Jules Larson at Hotel Cafe

It was off to Hotel Café to catch Jules Larson. This was the first time I’d seen Jules Larson as a solo artist. Solo is the key word here as I’ve followed her music career since 2007 as I was a big fan of Overnight Lows, a band she fronted. If you ever have the time, I’d suggest going to their myspace page. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with songs like ‘The Beaks,’ ‘My Oh My,’ and ‘Castle in the Sand.’ I have also on occasion checked out her progress as a solo artist, noticing that she’d gotten her songs on various television shows and commercials. This just happened to be the first time I was able to catch one of her sets.

As for her set, the style was definitely a departure from her Overnight Lows days. There was a hint of country in her first song. She also took turns playing guitar and piano. It took a couple songs for me to re-focus from those Overnight Lows days, but as the set continued I did enjoy the new songs from Jules Larson – as well as the one gloved hand.

Comment: Jules was looking at her band, “I love you guys.” The audience saying they loved her, as well. Jules replying, “I was talking to my band. I’m kidding. I love you, also.”

Side note: After her set, I took off for Echo Curio as I’d read that they were doing a secret show. I got there around 11 p.m. and the place was shut down. Oh well, I suspect the police shut them down rather early.

Hotel Cafe Photos
(Not the quality photos I'd like to post, but Hotel Cafe requests no flash photograph and I don't have the quality camera to take proper no flash photos.)

Old Overnight Lows Photos, Key Club, Kiss or Kill night, September 2007.

Adam Marsland and Silver Needle at El Cid

It was off to El Cid recently to catch Silver Needle and Adam Marsland and the Chaos Band.

Adam Marsland gave the audience an energetic set. They just slammed through their set, not letting down for a moment. Silver Needle had the crowd dancing like crazy. And Johnny 99 on bass was doing moves that only he can make. For awhile there, one couldn't help but be taken back in time to the good old Kiss or Kill days.

Adam Marsland and the Chaos Band

Silver Needle

Happy Thanksgiving to My Readers

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Duke Basketball vs. Kansas State: 82-68

I got to catch my first Duke basketball game of the season. I should have caught the Marquette game, but failed to set my DVR.

After say 5 minutes, I’m not sure the game was really in doubt – even if this was essentially a home game for Kansas State. Ninety-nine percent of the crowd must have been wearing purple.

Defense: At times, the defense looked like it was swarming Kansas State. It reminded me of how Villanova took us out of the Tournament in 2009. On the other hand, Kansas State had 39 at the half. I’m really not sure how they scored those points, because some Kansas State players (Jacob Pullen) were throwing up bricks. Well, I guess I do know, Curtis Kelly was hot and kept them close.

Kyrie Irving: He looked good. I’d just argue that he needs to learn when to take risks and when not to take risks on the offensive end – which will come. I remember one time specifically when he drove to the basket surrounded by three Kansas State players. I can’t help but believe a better option would have been to slow down and set up the half court offense. Finally, he has an interesting way of cradling the basketball when driving to the hoop.

Kyle Singler: He disappeared in the game, but when all was said and done he had 11 points. Problem is that he got into foul trouble in the first half and had to take a seat.

Nolan Smith: It looks like he’s the player they go to when the clock runs down, which resulted in his poor shooting percentage.

Andre Dawkins/Seth Curry: They make this backcourt deadly, because out goes Smith or Irving and in comes some deadly three point shooters.

Offense: As advertised, the offense is much faster this year, almost frantic at times.

Score: I'd say of that 14 point victory, it was really an 18 point victory that was dropped by 4 points when Kansas State decided it would still play some hard basketball in the last 30 seconds or so.

Pittsburgh Steelers 35 vs Oakland Raiders 3

First off, I only got to catch 3 quarters of this game. As the game was getting out of control, CBS shifted over to the Jets vs. Texans game. From a Steelers fan, I was upside. From a perspective as a football fan, I guess that Jets vs. Texans game was more interesting.

Second, from the games I've seen, this was the first time I've seen both the offense and defense clicking for the whole game. Admittedly, Oakland might not make the play-offs, but it isn't like they're an awful team. They rank 13th in offense and 5th in defense.

Third, what's up with those refs. Three personal penalty calls (I believe it was three) on the Steelers and all of them looked rather questionable. And perhaps two of them being down right bad calls. I agreed with the fans who could be heard screaming that the refs sucked.

The Shakers and Black Carl at Cat Club

It was off to the Cat Club to catch Black Carl and The Shakers.

Black Carl. Their funk beat had the crowd going wild. People were dancing throughout. A friend had suggested I check them out. I'm glad I made it out to the Cat Club in time to catch them.

The Shakers. They debuted a new song called "Set Yourself Free." It was their second to last song. Wow. It was just so amazing. And one of the great things about them, they're not only a great band musically but also a fun band to photograph.

Black Carl

The Shakers

L.A. Tamale Throwdown

L.A. Tamale Throwdown. Since it looks like the LA Tamale Festival is history, it would seem that a replacement is a necessity. And so enters the L.A. Tamale Throwdown in the parking lot of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- Rose Hill to fill the void. It is located between the cities/neighborhoods of South Pasadena, El Sereno and Alhambra.

This is the first year of the Throwdown. And things looked pretty good from my perspective. There were about five Tamale food stands and a handful of other stands that provided drinks, tacos, baked goods and the all important pupusas (one of my favorites). There was a decent crowd, though not packed, which was a good thing for me, but hopefully it worked to the expectations of the Throwdown organizers. I read that they were hoping for 4,000 folks over the course of two days. There were probably 300-400 people there when I stopped by so hopefully over the course of two days it hit their expectations because a tamale festival is needed in Los Angeles.

Pu$$y Cow at Kibitz

It was off to the Kibitz to catch Pu$$y Cow.

As is sort of standard at the Kibitz, the set-up was relaxed, not rushed. The guy who runs the place put in a couple dollars into the jukebox, enough for four songs. Danny on drums fiddled around on his drum set and at one point decided that the proper way to keep the set list in place was to spike it with one of his sticks. When the jukebox went silent, the guys went on stage to kick off their set.

Jokes were in for the night. Some jokes about Iron Giant. Inside jokes about song writing. And someone left behind a dirty old shoe that brought about jokes throughout the set, verbal and physical.

The night ended a week of catching up with Kiss or Kill bands: The Mulhollands (at Kibitz), Underwater City People/King Cheetah (at Mr. T's) and ending with Pu$$y Cow.

Echo Curio is Officially Closed

Via Laist and then the source, Echo Curio Blog, another change is happening in the Silverlake/Echo Park music scene. Though it is still to be determined rather or not the change at Spaceland/Satellite is for the good or the bad, it would seem that this demise at Echo Curio is definitely for the bad -- not that folks who know about Echo Curio didn't see this coming since early last month. Or that Big Whup show that got closed down a couple months back -- learned that via a friend of mine.

Some of my favorite shows at Echo Curio involved bands such as The Mo-odds, Queen Kwong, Pu$$y Cow, Prizzy Prizzy Please and The Shakers. I guess the highlight for me at Echo Curio was having to watch Prizzy Prizzy Please from the outside, because it was just so crazy hot inside.

PIttsburgh vs. New England: 26-39

So is this some Cleveland Browns curse. They beat New Orleans. The next week Pittsburgh loses to New Orleans. Cleveland beats New England. The next week, another Pittsburgh loss. Or maybe this is the 'New' curse -- NEW Orleans, NEW England.

Anyways, Pittsburgh had no rhythm what so ever on offense. Dropped passes. Sacks. Passes that were off the mark.

And once again an over-rated defense -- my opinion.

This doesn't look like a team that should make the playoffs, my opinion.

They better turn things around quick or what looked like a good start to the season is going to go south quick.

P.S. That fourth quarter offensive storm was more New England playing prevent defense.

Black Apples, Future Ghost and Tijuana Panthers at The Echo

It was off to The Echo to catch Black Apples, Future Ghost and Tijuana Panthers. The main reason for me was to catch Future Ghost. This was my second time catching them, but first time seeing a full set. Sometimes you catch the back end of a band and you think, "Wow, I want to see them again." You go back another time and realize that you probably caught their one and only good song. As for Future Ghost, loved their full set.

I saw Tijuana Panthers a week ago at Spaceland. This time around . . . hey, they had the crowd dancing. Does one need to say anything more? And then there was Black Apples, the residency band. Interesting note: they had two drum sets on stage. One drummer appears to do triple duty: drums, lead vocals and guitar -- not all at once, of course. (I'm not sure he played the guitar during their set, but he did mention something about them having a friend playing guitar with them for the night so he was just doing vocals.) For one song, he started at the microphone and ended on the drums. Towards the end of their set one of them said, "We have one song left." I was standing next to someone who said, "That's a real short set -- 20 minutes?" I agreed. What was going on. The band huddled and one of them came to the microphone, "Sorry about that, we have two songs left." Okay, now we were talking.

Below photos taken from other venues. Sorry, no photos of Black Apples, just of Future Ghost and Tijuana Panthers.

Future Ghost

Tijuana Panthers

Spaceland: Booker and Venue part ways

So I found out that the booker and venue owner of Spaceland are parting ways via Buzz Bands. Spaceland the venue will now be called Satellite -- still similar to the "space" theme. And I guess the Spaceland booker will be looking for another venue to book. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the music scene in Silverlake/Echo Park.

Wormstew, Gentlemen Prefer Blood, Underwater City People, King Cheetah and Icky's Ego at Mr. T's Bowl

So it was off to Mr. T's to catch a series of bands: Wormstew, Gentlemen Prefer Blood, Underwater City People, The King Cheetah and Icky's Ego. Five bands in one night, now that 's a lot of bands.

Wormstew. He started out his set with a G chord and ended it on a G chord. He also played a cover of a Chissum Worthington (same person, just a Sybil thing going on there) song. He said it would be his only cover of the night, but I do believe there was a cover of a Pu$y Cow song -- or maybe Pu$y Cow is always doing a cover of Wormstew.

Gentlemen Prefer Blood was a new band for me. Highlight, watching one of the band members moving around so much that he unplugged himself from the floor peddle twice. And his feet got so tangled with the chord at one point that I felt for sure he'd just topple over.

Underwater City People was the main reason I showed up at Mr. T's. I don't get to see them much anymore. It is great just getting to hear them play my favorites. And I just wonder when their record is coming out, because I'm owed a copy.

King Cheetah was up next. They're a two piece band that just gives it their all every time I've seen them. It is always interesting watching the drummer tuning up his drums during the set of another band. I always consider it a sign of wanting to give the audience the best.

The final band of the night was Icky's Ego. Another first time listen for me. Take a look at the photos. I say sunglasses. From what I understand, they mostly play on the west side. Love their style.

Wormstew

Gentlemen Prefer Blood

Underwater City People

The King Cheetah

Icky's Ego

Pittsburgh Steelers 27 vs. Cincinnati Bengals 21

Heart attack. It looked like the Steelers were going to cake walk this in the 4th quarter and then Cincinnati turned things interesting. Maybe to get specific, Terrell Owens turned it around.

The offense looked much better versus the game versus the New Orleans Saints. In that game, I thought the offense just didn't look good at all except for a couple possessions. For this game, I thought they looked much better.

Now as for the defense. As my complaint has been all season long, I'm not so sure about all these complements about the defense that I'm always hearing from reporters. Yes, they're good against the run, but that pass defense looks awful to me.

Note: It is nice having Antwaan Randle El back. He never should have left for the Redskins.

The Mulhollands at Kibitz

The Mulhollands played the Kibitz this Friday night. Their last show before going on their first tour ever.

If you happen to come across this blog and live in the following cities, I highly encourage you to check out this band.

Secaucas, NJ: Nov 17.
West Chester, PA: Nov 18.
New York, NY: Nov 19.
Philadelphia, PA: Nov 20.

In regards to Kibitz. I loved their set, but I have to emphasize that there was a stretch in the middle of their set that was just beautiful.