On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon

On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon (Sintra)

On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon (Sintra)

On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon (Sintra)

On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon

On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon

On Vacation: Photo Series from my last vacation -- Lisbon

Exercising and Dogs

Here's my tale of a recent exercise routine and my encounter with various dogs:

1.  Four dogs getting trained by two owners on how to behave when an individual passes by.

2.  One dog on the steps of an apartment, barking like mad at me.  This dog always wants to bark at me.  And as always, the dog ran down the steps (luckily there is a fence between us) and started to bark away.  And then it circled around the apartment building to continue barking at me.  What's up with that dog?

3.  The next dog I came across must be the most out of shape dog in the neighborhood.  The owner was about 10 yards ahead of his dog, just waiting for his dog to catch up.

4.  The final dog of the night had deciding to torture its owner.  The owner dropped the leash at some point and the dog took off running down the street.  The owner was off chasing after her dog. 

Dogs on a summer evening.

Francisco the Man and LA Font at Satellite

It was a good night to head off to Satellite with LA Font backing residency band Francisco the Man. LA Font is described as a garage band.  They gave a 30 minute set with the lead singer hitting notes with precision.  Then came Francisco the Man, which has a more laid back attitude.  The sounds are meant to linger and the words are meant for you to think.

LA Font

Francisco the Man

Active Child and Zola Jesus at MOCA

I'm probably going to do a write-up on this for Intraffik so I'm just posting pictures for now of Active Child and Zola Jesus at MOCA.


Active Child



Zola Jesus

The Child at El Cid

It was off to El Cid to catch The Child. Along the way, I ran into my friend Jodie, from The Shakers.  Hey, this was going to be a good night.

Interestingly, this was my third weekday night out last week (Monday at Bootleg, Wednesday at The Roxy).  I blog on music, but I do try to limit how many times I go out each week.  It isn't exactly easy to head off to bed after midnight and then go to work the next day.  And on this topic, I had two different conversations with friends where I said that I have recently tried to limit my weekday outings to only once or twice a week.  Of course, this past week was so filled with solid bands that I had to break that self-limiting pledge. 

The Child had a solid crowd at El Cid and responded with a solid set though folks tended to stay away from the front of the stage even though both Lauren and Holly asked for folks to come closer.   I don't know what's up with their friends.

Maybe I'm making this up, but does the individual in the below photo (Holly) look just a tad like Keira Knightley?

honeyhoney, Shana Halligan and Monsters Calling Home at The Roxy

It was off to The Roxy to catch Shana Halligan, Monsters Calling Home and honeyhoney.

I got a last minute text from a friend about my interest in heading off to see honeyhoney at The Roxy. It wasn’t a very difficult decision to make. I was there.

First up was Shana Halligan. Her set had a tinge of jazz inspiration. She had a back-up band for this set though she mentioned that she usually has a more electronic sound.

Monsters Calling Home filled the second spot. They have a Silver Lake/Echo Park sound and so I’m sure I’ll run across them one of these days soon at The Satellite or Bootleg.

To close out the night was honeyhoney giving us a near one hour set. Cutest moments of the night: a father brought his two daughters along and they were perhaps the biggest cheerleaders during the last two songs. Honeyhoney did run into banjo technical issues, but it didn’t matter.   We, the fans, love them no matter what.  An encore was demanded and provided.

I usually bring my DSLR to shows, but Roxy does require you to get permission from a band. Due to the short notice, I just brought along my point and shoot versus trying to contact a band. I will eventually post "poorer" than normal quality photos, but currently my Internet connection at home is down.

Update with my point and shoot camera:

Shana Halligan


Monsters Calling Home


honeyhoney


And honeyhoney comment of the night:  We're dealing with a slight banjo casualty.

A Movie Review: Ted

Ted.   John Bennett (Mark Wahlbert) grows up with no friends.  Even the Jewish kid who is getting beat up tells John Bennett to go away.  His parents give him a teddy bear for Christmas.  He makes a wish and would you know, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) his bear, comes to life.  Years past and Ted and John are still best friends who waste their time smoking pot.  Somehow John has the hottest girlfriend, Lori Collins (Mila Kunis), who works as a vice president at a PR firm.  Now why exactly does a woman who has two amazing advantages in life (she's beautiful and has a great job) live with a boyfriend who:  is always smoking weed (I could be wrong, but Lori does not smoke weed in the movie), makes perhaps $20,000 a year and has his best friend living with them?  I have no clue, but who cares, this movie will have you laughing. And there are also awesome bit roles played by the likes of Norah Johes, Tom Skerritt and Sam J. Jones.

Army Navy, Tribes and Meg Myers at Bootleg

It was off to the Bootleg to catch Army Navy, Tribes and Meg Myers. I only caught a portion of Army Navy.  Loved the songs I heard.  I ran into a fellow photographer who was there only to shot Army Navy.  I was actually:  hey, why aren't you staying for the other bands.  One reason I was thinking that is because Tribes was in town from the UK.  How often are you going to have a chance to catch them?  (I'm not saying you should go to every show that features an out of town band, I'm just saying if you're at a venue and they're playing at the reasonable hour of 10 p.m. . . . )  They gave a solid set and then Meg Myers went on stage, the residency singer:  deep Southern vocals. 

Army Navy



Tribes



Meg Myers

Up on Intraffik: New LA Folk Festival

I'm up on Intraffik with a post on the New LA Folk Festival.

Dudes Night, Pu$$y Cow, Young Turks and Red City Radio at Blue Star

It was a night away from my normal Silver Lake/Echo Park music grounds to catch Dudes Night, Pu$$y Cow, Young Turks and Red City Radio.  One key note is that this was the first show for Tu$hy-Hor$e (Pu$$y Cow) in around seven months. All these bands put on stage shows that you seldom see at a Silver Lake/Echo Park venue (I love the music, but let's be honest . . . . Grouplove excluded from this brief commentary as they definitely know how to put on a show).  Young Turks shined on that score.  Red City Radio came in from Oklahoma.  Were they cheering on Kevin Durant during the Olympics?  Dudes Night is a regular out in VLHS, Pomona -- a place that has to be considered one of the great DIY locations in SoCal. 

Dudes Night



Pu$$y Cow

Young Turks

Red City Radio

IO Echo and Cold Showers at Dilettante

This will be part of a post on Intraffik so just some photos for now of Cold Showers and IO Echo playing at Dilettante.

Cold Showers



IO Echo

The Deep Sea Goes and East of the River at Silverlake Lounge

It was off to Silverlake Lounge to catch The Deepsea Goes and East of the River.  I say this was a night of length of time.  The Deepsea Goes is a two piece band that speeds through their songs and also sped through their set.  I'm sure they only played twenty minutes.  East of the River slowed it down just slightly in terms of music, but they started their set about 5 minutes early and then nearly stopped after 20 minutes.  Luckily, the sound guy told them they could keep on going.  They played another 4 songs.

Though both bands didn't seem to want to play their full 30 minute allotment, it was still a great night of music.

The Deepsea Goes

East of the River

USA vs. Spain: 107-100

Seriously, I almost exclusively only watched USA basketball during the Olympics -- I did catch the last few minutes of US vs. Canada women's soccer and a bit of Dutch women's hand ball (while hitting fast forward to get to my DVR'd basketball, I'd hit play for a few moments).

I do believe that in a 7 game play-off series that Spain could take a game or two from the USA.  I'm sure that the Spanish bigs would rule a couple times in a series.

Coach K's jump for joy after Chris Paul's drive in the last couple minutes of the game has to be seen.  Hey, Chris Paul played for Wake Forest.

Okay, Lebron James is a better player than Kobe Bryant.

Kevin Durant; however, could some day overtake James.  That guy has a sweet stroke.

I remember reading that Kevin Love wasn't happy about his minutes during the exhibition games.  I thought he was a key glue during the Olympics.

Kobe Bryant seemed to have a quiet 17 points, but it was interesting how he turned it on during the last few games.  As the commentators mentioned, Kobe probably decided to take the first few games off.  Also, I though Kobe played an almost flawless game.  He did have one bad turnover where he jumped into the air and had to get rid of it, but that was the only serious error I saw him make.

Also, I felt like Kobe Bryant was given the Andre Dawkins role (current Duke player).  I think every Duke fan cheers for Andre Dawkins, but I think most of us realize that his time at Duke has been disappointing.  The reason I make this comparison is because I often saw Kobe out on the 3-point line sort of just sitting in the same position, waving his arms around when he felt he was open.  Now Andre Dawkins is no Kobe Bryant by a large stretch of the imagination, but you do get an idea of how Coach K would like to see Dawkins play.  Not only shoot the 3, but also feel willing to drive to the basket every so often.

If only Pau Gasol could play like he did in the Olympics during the NBA play-offs.  I realize that Kobe is the man for the Lakers, but I'm talking desire.  I really felt like Gasol played with desire during these Olympics that I just think is missing during the playoffs -- I could be wrong.

Time Magazine highlights 3 Los Angeles bands

From Time Magazine ((Melissa Locker, 6 August 2012, 11 Great Bands You Don’t Know (But Should)), we have three Los Angeles bands highlighted:  NO, Haim, Hands.

Awesome cool.

Zorthian Ranch: The Uniqueness Photo Series

I went to Zorthian Ranch to catch The New L.A. Folk Festival. While there, I came across some unique sites.

Zorthian Ranch: The Uniqueness Photo Series

I went to Zorthian Ranch to catch The New L.A. Folk Festival.  While there, I came across some unique sites.

Zorthian Ranch: The Uniqueness Photo Series

I went to Zorthian Ranch to catch The New L.A. Folk Festival. While there, I came across some unique sites.

Zorthian Ranch: The Uniqueness Photo Series

I went to Zorthian Ranch to catch The New L.A. Folk Festival.  While there, I came across some unique sites.

Zorthian Ranch: The Uniqueness Photo Series

I went to Zorthian Ranch to catch The New L.A. Folk Festival.  While there, I came across some unique sites.

Zorthian Ranch: The Uniqueness Photo Series

I went to Zorthian Ranch to catch The New L.A. Folk Festival. While there, I came across some unique sites.

Up on Intraffik: July 2012 playlist

I'm up on Intraffik with my July 2012 playlist.

The bands are:

Tashaki Miyaki
Pink Fuzzy Animals
JMSN
Frank + Derol
Dwntwn
Lost Lander
Terraplane
Sun Kind Hearts and Coronets
Garland
The Short Eyes

Click on the above link for photos, videos links and song lists.

Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles

I got the privileged to do some photography for the Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles. If you want to take a look, head on over to their Facebook page. The photos were posted July 28th, 2012 (wall).  Or head on over to their photo section and click through the Summer Camp 2012 - Showcase album.

Squirrels

I wonder if squirrels ever attempt to entertain humans.  I was out for a midday stroll when a squirrel looked me in the eye.  As I passed, it took a couple jumps my way before doing a twisting twirl in mid air.  Once it landed, it scampered up a tree. 

Garland and The Short Eyes at Silverlake Lounge

It was off to that under-rated music venue, Silverlake Lounge, to catch Garland and The Short Eyes. We started out with some melody driven rock by Garland and then shifted to some sped up rock via The Short Eyes.

Comment of the night by Garland: Even if you don't like us, hopefully we entertained you.

Comments of the night by The Short Eyes: Drummer, we're from San Diego so this is like our back yard.  Lead, just like having a BBQ.

Garland



The Short Eyes

Up on Intraffik: Bloomfest 2012

I'm up on Intraffik with a post on Bloomfest 2012.