Back on Intraffik: The July Listening List

I can be found on Intraffik.com again. This time with a new list of songs/bands I've checked out in the LA area. Below is the list of songs/bands, but check out the link as there is more there than just the below.

5 Days Dirty: “Sound of Revolution”
Gangi: “Waiting on the Line”
Saint Motel: “Dear Dictator”
The Shakers: “Distress Signal”
Neo Geo: “Can’t Catch Me”
AutoPop: “Depredator”
Sucker for Pumps: “We Arsonists”
Amusement Park on Fire: “In Our Eyes” and “A Star is Born”
Castledoor: Dumpster Dumping
Dizzy Balloon: What Can I Do

Lamar Odom back with the Lakers

Lamar Odom is coming back to the Lakers!!! From the LA Times (“Lamar Odom agrees to return to Lakers,” Broderick Turner, 31 July 2009): The Lakers reached a deal to re-sign free-agent forward Lamar Odom today, retaining an important, and versatile, part of last season's championship run . . . Odom, a 6-foot-10 forward, has been a key player on the Lakers for five seasons. He became an unrestricted free agent in July. The four-year deal is worth $33 million if the Lakers exercise the final year of the contract, sources close to the negotiations said . . . Odom also had conversations with the Miami Heat about a five-year deal for $34 million, allowing him to opt out after the third season and become a free agent. Because there are no state taxes in Miami, Odom still could have made nearly as much as with the Lakers' offers.

My comments: As a fan, I’m happy. And now I’m looking forward to a possible Los Angeles vs. Cleveland series perhaps? Honestly, I don’t think it’ll happen. But I do think it possible I’m going to another Lakers parade come June 2010.

Chez Cherie, cooking class

I had the opportunity recently to take a cooking class at Chez Cherie. It is located at 1401 Foothill Blvd, La Canada, CA.

A number of us got there at around 3:15 p.m. The class started at around 3:30 p.m. First off, we were provided with some appetizers. They had caprese and mushroom/leek bruschetti for us. Awesome.

We were then split into two groups and rotated around two tables. One table had us doing cracked potatoes with rosemary, arugula-hazelnut pesto and handmade pasta. The other table made insalata di rinforzo and almond-plum crostada.

Then around 6:00 p.m. we got to enjoy our work.

It was fun, but I have to admit that there was one item I will definitely not make on a regular basis: the home made pasta. Though we did the pasta rather quickly, I suspect that in reality it is sort of a pain to make your own pasta when you know that just down the street you can buy pasta for less than a dollar and honestly the pasta at the grocery story tastes much better.

I could see myself making the potatoes with rosemary. The arugula-hazelnut pesto looked amazingly easy to make.

The almond-plum crostada also looked easy to make though much more time consuming than the amount of time we spent on it since all the ingredients were already out and ready to go for us.

I think the small deception with these cooking classes is that in reality it takes much longer to make these dishes since many of the ingredients are already pre-made for you.

Overall, though, I think taking a cooking class with friends is a great idea. I guess one could consider it one of those staycations that is discussed so often these days.

Photos of the location.





Photos of the food.





Photo of where we ate.

Updated: Diane Birch @ Hotel Cafe

An Update Below

I just came back from seeing Diane Birch at Hotel Cafe. A friend of mine sent out a mid-morning e-mail saying that he was planning on seeing her set and suggested that the people on his e-mail list should check her out, as well.

I won't go into her set too much, because I suspect that come mid to late August I'll have a column posted on intraffik.com about this night. Let's just say this, she has vocals that shine with beauty.

If you missed the set -- and most likely you did -- you can catch her on Jimmy Kimmel this Friday night, July 31st.

Sorry no photos. Last minute invite meant I didn't have time to bring along a camera. Anyways, here's a video from youtube.




Updated: I noticed that people are searching for Diane Birch so I figured I shouldn't leave my blog on such as tease of saying go check out intraffik.com in a month. So here's a brainstorm of quick notes about her set: Hotel Café was packed. I suspect it was as close to being sold out as possible. The age range was between 21 to 70. She rotated from piano to keys throughout much of the set, sometimes between songs; however, I thought she was most engaging when simply singing with her band. Her backup band consisted of a drummer, guitarist, bassist and trumpeter. The trumpeter added the most to her sound. She is a beauty with the focus being on her eyes. I did buy a CD from her and took it for a listen the following day. She has a very personable personality.

A Movie Review: (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer. I did enjoy this movie; however, I just want to mention a movie I consider to be an even better romantic comedy, Adventureland. Personal preference. I suppose I just like seeing a more happy ending. Warning: This blog has more than its share of spoilers.

I should probably also admit before going much further that I'm also irritated that I missed Zooey Deschanel's She & Him residency at Spaceland a few months back. That just stunk. I don't know what I was thinking.

So yes, I liked Adventureland much better, but that doesn't mean I didn't love (500) Days of Summer. It takes a different look at relationships. It shows that sometimes people break-up. It shows that sometimes certain people aren't meant for each other. And yet, it does have a happy ending to a degree. Summer finds true love, an emotion she felt she would never feel -- rather quickly by the way -- after breaking up with Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The movie doesn't end with Tom finding true love, but it does end with him potentially finding a new girlfriend.

Problem with the movie: Okay, I'm thinking the following isn't a problem, I just wished I'd realized this before going in to see the movie. So I guess this is more of a heads up. The movie doesn't stick to a linear timeline (I would have known this if I'd read the reviews). It starts out around day 290-ish, plus or minus 30 days, and then u-turns to the start. I wish I'd logged those days better in my mind, because I think it would have made the movie more enjoyable. Early in the movie, they're having breakfast in the evening. This is essentially the moment in the movie where they breakup. Fast forward towards the end of the movie and the same day is revisited, but a few hours before that moment. Oh well, it just means I'll need to watch this movie again on DVD.

What I enjoyed about the movie is that it showed amazingly romantic moments between the two of them and yet at the same time it showed moments where you just couldn't help but think, "There is something wrong going on with this relationship." That thought was brought out by Tom's sister where she said something like, "I'm happy you guys broke up. I think you'll realize this if you'd re-think your relationship." The movie then re-winds and shows you those moments where there were signs that Summer just wasn't fully invested emotionally into the relationship.

One complaint regarding the style of the movie. There is the When Harry Met Sally moment where people are getting interviewed about their relationships. It seemed like a scene that could have been cut. It seemed out of place. The movie does use various movie styles; however, so it was meant to be included. There is a musical number where perhaps you'd think that maybe this wouldn't work either, but I enjoyed it. There is also a rather long scene towards the end of the movie that uses a split screen that shows: imagined (I don't believe that is the word used in the movie, but you get the idea) versus reality. Now that was just a brilliant scene, because how many of us are hit with cold reality when it comes to relationships.

This is a minor moment, but I loved the scene where the boss called Tom into his office. I think in many movies, the boss is seen as unsympathetic or as a jerk. This movie treated the boss as a good guy. I liked that. It was one of those moments that just showed that this was a different type of film.

I had a brief conversation with a couple of friends about this movie. One mentioned that he thought Summer was just a mean character. I think through most of the movie, this just isn't true. I'll have to give it up to him; however, when a few months after their breakup they happen to meet up on a train ride where both are heading to the same wedding. To me, Summer does lead him on, giving him the illusion that perhaps he has another chance at getting the relationship back on track. We learn moments later in the movie (the split screen portion of the movie) that she's dating someone else who is about to ask her to marry him. As Tom later asks Summer, why didn't she just mention this fact to him earlier. That was cruel, especially since she asked him to a rooftop party where she knew her new boyfriend would be. I suppose you could use this moment to go back through the whole movie and apply this character flaw to their relationship and therefore re-address how she treated him during their relationship. Perhaps my friend is right. Perhaps I'll come to his conclusion when I see the movie again. For now, I'll argue in her benefit that sometimes it is hard to bring up those topics. Also, I'd argue that throughout the movie, it was clear that Summer and Tom had reversed roles. Summer had more of the dominant/"male" role in the relationship where she didn't treat their relationship as something that might potentially lead to a long term commitment. Tom had the more "female" role of looking for a long term commitment. If you look at it from that perspective, I don't think she treated him badly during their relationship.

Ending: Deschanel was in a movie called Yes Man, which I thought had the undercurrent of being a love story to the Eastside of Los Angeles. In many ways, (500) Days of Summer is a love story to Downtown Los Angeles.

A night of words: Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit at Spaceland

Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit was playing at Spaceland on Tuesday night. He wears his heart on his sleeves. Throughout his set, he made some interesting comments. After singing a song about his ex-girlfriend, in which he used some rather strong words, he ended by saying, “Don’t ever date a guy with a guitar or he’ll write a song about you calling you a whore.” Now he might not have said whore, but it was a similar type word, perhaps harlot. He also talked before one song saying, “I was lucky enough to be on tour when my grandfather died. I was on tour near his place and so I was the only grandson who got to see him before he passed away. The same thing happened when my grandmother passed away, me being on tour. She was on morphine and slept most of the time. When she would wake up, she’d call my mother over and say, ‘I want to be euthanized. Where’s that Dr. Kevorkian.’ I changed my opinion on euthanasia after that experience. Anyways, I wrote this song when I was seeing my grandfather and I didn’t have to change a word.” He also joked a couple of times about how playing at Spaceland was going to pay off his rent for the month. He had a couple backup musicians, a bassist and a drummer. They played with him for the first half of the set and then the final two songs. The set went about an hour and fifteen minutes. I was actually surprised by that. I wasn’t expecting such a long set. Note: For some reason, I found it interesting when he rotated harmonicas. He also had out a banjo, but I don’t believe he ever used it.





The other two bands of the night were The Romany Rye and The Parson Red Heads. I saw perhaps half of Romany Rye’s set. They’re a three guy band. There was a funny comment by one guys who said something like, “I wrote this song while learning to play the piano, which I still don’t know how to play.” The band has an interesting situation where they rotate around musical instruments. When I walked in they were all on guitars. During one of their songs, two of the guys rotated to a drum set and a piano. The Parson Red Heads are a rather mellow band that didn’t ever go outside that music range of mellow. One of the guitar players was interesting to watch. He often times held something in his right hand. The young lady in the band commented, “Can you believe he played the tambourine and the guitar on that song? I always find that so amazing.” Looking at their myspace page, I do believe I only saw a subset of the band so I suspect they can jam it up a bit more.

Below pictures are of Parson Red Heads. I didn't really get a good shot of Romany Rye.

A Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I should state upfront that I know very little to nothing about the X-men. I've seen all the movies, but I've never read a single X-men comic book.

As for the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie: I really enjoyed it. It gave a great introduction to the Wolverine character. What I really appreciated about the movie is that it didn't spend too much time on the background story of Wolverine before getting to the core of the story. There were a few moments spent on his childhood and then his time in the Civil War, WWI, WWII and Vietnam, but didn't overly dwell on these moments. The movie gave us a glimpse into the set-up piece and then off and running it went.

It provided some nice intrigue and plot twists -- perhaps these weren't plot twists for those who know the background of Wolverine.

I'd say this is one of the better 2009 summer movies. Dare I say, I'd rank it above Star Trek.

Pretty Mess, Pu$$y Cow and Dirty Filthy Mugs at the Blue Star

Saturday night at Blue Star. First off, there was an issue with the sound. I guess the sound guy didn’t show up. I heard someone say he called in sick. Of course, that could mean he just decided not to show up for the night for whatever reason. Folks tried their best at getting the sound going and someone was able to get one microphone to work at around 10:15 p.m. The first band of the night was Pretty Mess. They’re a four member, all-girl, punk band. They play aggressive. Sing raw. Use plenty of four letter words. And have probably the hottest drummer in Los Angeles. There were some interesting moments during their set. The microphone went out during their set as someone who knew a bit about sound came around and tried to help make things better. There were complaints, but the guy knew what he was doing and kept on going. Eventually the sound came back and he also got a second microphone working, as well. Also, during their set, a police helicopter flew overhead for some reason with the beam lights pointing towards the Blue Star. Sort of interesting. I half expected to see cops coming by at some point. No police came in though perhaps a couple cop cars drove by the Blue Star at some point.

Next up was Pu$$y Cow. I hadn’t seen this band play a full set in a couple months, I believe since their Juanita show way back when. I’m not sure who set up the night, but the honest truth was that this was a Pu$$y Cow show. Probably 60%-70% of the people there were there to see Pu$$y Cow. There was a moment where one of the fans got up into Chissum's face. Chissum tried to start the song off, but just couldn't and started laughing.

Dirty Filthy Mugs were the third band of the night. They started the night off with a bang. The lead singer just went flying around from the start. I swear this band has one of the best stage shows in Los Angeles (obviously Automatic Music Explosion stands alone). They threw out confetti poppers and sprayed everyone with party spray string. It was awesome. And they sounded great, as well. And for a song or two one of the guys brought out an accordion. An unfortunate situation arose that perhaps not very many people noticed. There was a guy wearing ski glasses. He got a little testy at one point with a lady who was using the poppers. Some of the streamers landed on his back. He got so furious that he got a cup of beer and threw it at her back and then stormed off. A fight could have started, but she was cool about it and so her friends were cool about it. The guy obviously deserves a big JERK tagged to his forehead.

Interesting note was that some sort of party was occurring across the street in this largely industrial park area. Someone mentioned it was a corporate party, but when I was driving off for the night I noticed a bunch of teens/college age folks heading towards the party. My car also had a number of party fliers on it. Maybe this area is turning into a little hidden hip area of music and dance?

Big Stone City, F-ing Southwell and Z/Schnee and the Bleeding Livers

Wednesday night at El Cid to catch Rob Z's night. As I was walking towards El Cid I heard the sounds of the first band. I was thinking, “Wow, that band sounds really awesome.” The band is called Big Stone City. I’m sorry I didn’t catch their whole set. Next up was F*** Southwell. He used to front my all-time favorite local band: Bang Sugar Bang. He borrowed a couple guys from Get Set Go to help fill out his sound. A funny note about his set: He took one of his guitars from its case and realized that one of the strings was broken. He broke it at his last gig. He mentioned, “This just proves that I am one of the laziest musicians around. And I didn’t even practice with the guys since our last show. They said we’re fine, however.”

The final band of the night was Z/Schnee and the Bleeding Livers. This is Rob Z’s band. Rob Z always has these gags he uses. This time around he had a bicycle horn. He told everyone, “Whenever I make a sound with this horn, I want everyone to yell out, ‘Brand New Car.’ It means we’re singing a brand new song.” Kevin and Emily from the former band Midway made an awesome guest appearance that got many of the people in the crowd pumped up. Somewhere in the middle of the Bleeding Livers set, a couple of people took to dancing on the floor. A couple of others joined after some persuasion. Soon thereafter a large number of people started to dance away. Anyways, this is the last Rob Z night for awhile as he is putting his night on hiatus.

Music Adventures in Vancouver Part 2 on Intraffik.com

Part 2 of my Vancouver trip is up on Intraffik.com.

Some additional comments.

One of the musicians I saw was Lauren Zettler who was on tour from New York. She mentioned to the Vancouver audience that she found Vancouver a very beautiful city. I have to agree. The city is just lovely.

I mention in the column about a couple having a make out session next to me in a bus. The make out session was hot and heavy. I can't help but believe that if a Hollywood police officer saw this make out session, the officer would put a stop to it. Yes, Hollywood, CA. As time goes by, this story will probably grow to the point where the two were tearing each others cloths off.

A Movie Review: Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons. I liked this movie much better than The Da Vinci Code. I remember reading The Da Vinci Code and getting really into it. Then I saw the movie and said to myself, "This is such a stupid concept." I don't know why I thought that. For some reason, when shifting from reading to watching, my mind concluded that it was a silly premise. Intrigue is the concept for Angels and Demons. Perhaps the whole concept of anti-matter makes no sense, but this wasn't a drawback for me. I loved trying to figure out who were the good guys and who were the Illuminati -- I haven't read the book yet.

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation. First off, I liked the post-apocalypse vision of the movie. I thought the Marcus Wright character made the movie -- sorry, Christian Bale, but you took another back seat in this movie like you did in Dark Knight.

Even though I liked the post-apocalypse vision, I have mixed feelings about this movie. (Spoilers). I did not like this movie up till the gas station scene. Nukes go off and people are still living above ground in Los Angeles? I don't know about that. I guess it depends on where the nukes exploded. And that giant Terminator, smashing its hand through the roof of the gas station and grabbing two of the individuals just made me laugh. And the way that giant looked made me laugh. From that point on, I enjoyed the movie until the last scene. I didn't like how Marcus Wright gave up his heart. As mentioned, I liked Marcus Wright. To see him sacrifice himself was depressing. I'm sure the filmmakers were thinking of a sequel and I just think the Marcus Wright character would have added to any potential sequel.

Sci Fi battle between Star Trek versus Terminator. I had problems with parts of Star Trek, but I enjoyed the movie throughout. For Terminator, I hated the whole Los Angeles sequence, but enjoyed it thereafter until the last scene. I liked the post-apocalypse style of Terminator better than the re-invigorating view of the future via Star Trek. In the end, I'm giving Star Trek the over-all better marks; however, neither in my opinion ranks up there with last summer's Iron Man and Dark Knight (not sci fi movies, but just better summer movies in general).

The Mulhollands and The Shakers at Fox and Hounds

I last saw The Mulhollands back in mid-April so three months had passed since I last saw them. That's a rather long time period for me to go without seeing one of my favorite local bands. With that in mind, I headed off to Fox and Hounds on Saturday night to catch their set. It also happened to be Matt's, one of the guitar players, birthday. I believe that one of the songs on their set list was written by Matt -- if I heard Sarah correctly. The set was lovely. The songs are great. It was great to see them again. There was an interesting scene come the end of their set. I noticed a guy walking in front of me and moving to the front of the "stage" area. I didn't pay much attention until I noticed people around me started to talk and point. The guy had taken down his pants. Now luckily he wasn't going commando and was wearing sportswear versus briefs, but still. Even the band had to take notice. (I'll resist posting a photo of the pant-less guy for his own sake, not that very many people ever come across this blog but who knows.)

Beforehand, The Shakers were up. As mentioned before in other blogs, this is Jodie's new project -- post Automatic Music Explosion. I was doing some photo taking. I was getting much better photos than I got when checking out their Viper Room gig. I noticed that they're looking for a bass player. Their current bass player if Jeff from Automatic Music Explosion.

The Monthlies at Silverlake Lounge

I headed off to Silverlake Lounge on Wednesday to see The Monthlies. I'll have a longer review up on intraffik.com in a couple weeks. Anyways, a handful of photos:

The Faraway Places

The Monthlies

Music Adventures in Vancouver on Intraffik.com

A column I wrote is now up on Intraffik.com. Go check it out. It is about the adventures I had in Vancouver while searching for a music scene. Did I find one? Well, you'll actually need to wait to Part 2, which will come out next week.

Sarah Jeanette of The Mulhollands and her song: Crashing

Sarah Jeanette of the The Mulhollands has a new solo side project that she's been working on with Mike Chapman. If you're interested, check out the video below:

Sick and Robitussin

I got a harsh cold or mild flu last week. It lasted for two days. As usual, after beating back the illness, I was left with a bad cough for about five days. I went through my old bottle of Robitussin Cough & Cold CF medicine rather quickly. So I headed off to the local store to get another bottle. I eyed the various options available. I decided to go with Robitussin Cough & Cold Long-Acting. I figured I could just take it at night and just sleep the night away. The problem with CF is that I usually wake up in the middle of the night coughing away and needing another dose.

The new medicine didn't work as immediately as I thought it might, but after a bit I was gone. And was I gone!!! I woke up the next couple mornings just wanting to go back to sleep. I felt like I was in a haze most of the day. Perhaps I'm a wimp when it comes to medicine, but my opinion is that this Long-Acting medicine is rather powerful.

Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl

I saw Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday evening. It was a pleasant night of music. The Los Angeles Philharmonic joined in on the fun for about 5 songs. I’m not sure they added all that much to the music. For a moment or two you'd hear a brass instrument ringing loud, but other than that the Philharmonic didn't seem to add much -- though I was way in the back so perhaps it was more enjoyable for people up close.

What did add a lovely twist was the final song. Fireworks started up behind the stage. I half wondered if these were just extra fireworks left over from the 4th of July. Probably not. It was a lovely ending to their set. I sort of wished that Death Cab for Cutie was able to see the fireworks themselves, because it was so beautiful seeing the fireworks going off as the band played.

I have to admit that Death Cab for Cutie is one of those bands I’ve heard of, but I wouldn’t really be able to name off any of their songs. I was a bit amazed during their set how many of their songs I actually recognized. The great thing about the band is the distinctness of the lead singer's vocals.

There were two other bands: The New Pornographers and Tegan and Sara. Both made statements about how amazing it was to play at the Hollywood Bowl. I think both bands were a bit intimidated by it all. Tegan and Sara kept on mentioning how nervous they were. Interestingly, based on their myspace pages and such, both are from Vancouver, Canada (Tegan and Sara mentions on their myspace page as being both from Vancouver and Montreal -- I'm not sure how that works)– a place I recently visited and will shortly have a massive music column up on inTraffik.com.

Notes about the Hollywood Bowl. I went with some friends. I learned an interesting parking trick. Park at Hollywood and Highland. Buy some goodies at a 2nd floor food vendor who will give you parking validation. Walk up to the Hollywood Bowl. The parking was $4 plus a few extra dollars for a couple snacks. All told it is probably just slightly cheaper than just parking at the Hollywood Bowl, but on the other hand you aren’t waiting around, drumming your fingers on your car's hood, for people to get to their car. (I personally tend to do something similar, but I usually just take the metro to Hollywood/Highland and then walk up.)

It was getting a bit chilly at the Hollywood Bowl around 9 p.m. My friends were all cold at that point. Luckily, we all had jackets.

I usually post pictures with my music blogs. Sorry about not having any. I was way way way up in Section W.

One Mile Radius Project in Hollywood Part II

The mile radius project continues at one of the churches I attend. The section of the area that a group looked at was between Argyle and Bronson (west and east) and Hollywood and Sunset (north and south).

An interesting place in the area is called "My Friend's Place." This is a place for homeless youth.

The area has some older apartments that are well maintained.

It has other older sections that are just run down.

Just across the rundown area is this apartment or condo construction project. A gentrification.

Here's a new condo project. I've seen this project for awhile. They're still trying to sell their condos.

There are open areas where mini-parks could get built.

The westside of this area is where the nightlife is (or will be.) Here's the construction for the new W Hotel.

Just a tad south of the W Hotel is a bar called The Well. I've been there a few times for birthday parties.

Then there is the Palladium for music. This music venue went under renovation recently.

Below are a couple low lights on Sunset. Immediately below is the former building for CBS. It's been abandoned for awhile. I guess no one wants to occupy it. And then there is this old motel that's been there for awhile and I can't help but wonder who would stay there.

This area also has a number of parking lots to feed the Palladium and the Pantages, which is in the area. I didn't take any photos of those.

To end the report, some random artwork.

LA Lakers get Artest. Ariza gets Houston.

Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza. I'm a LA Lakers fan. I went to the Lakers Parade. I'm not an expert on how to create a championship quality team, but here is my two cents: I like this trade.

I've read four articles on this. Three are favorable and one isn't. The one unfavorable review comes from Bill Plaschke of the LA Times. One of his main questions is why didn't the Lakers give Ariza and his agent David Lee more time to negotiate a deal with the Lakers. It does seem like the Lakers quickly moved on to Ron Artest. Perhaps the Lakers always wanted to make a grab for Ron Artest, which is implied in various articles. Perhaps, also, the Lakers just didn't like how Ariza approached the negotiations and decided to move on.

Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times actually likes this trade as do writers for Yahoo Sports and Sports Illustrated.

My opinion on the matter: Throughout the play-offs, my opinion was that a weakness of the LA Lakers was not having a defender like Shane Battier who can potentially lock down an all-star player for one or two games out of a seven game series. I don't think Artest is a Shane Battier quality defended, but Mike Bresnahan believes that he can fill the role of defending an all-star player. If true, it means that Kobe Bryant doesn't have to waste energy guarding the opponent's best player. I think over-all this fills a weakness of the Lakers and if Artest's temperament can fit in with the Lakers culture, it'll make another run at the championship easier.

As for Ariza: That guy needs to get a new agent. David Lee over-played his hand and now Ariza is potentially stuck (depending on Yao Ming) on a lottery bound or 7th/8th playoff seeded team.