Song Spotlight: Leyla Ebrahimi's i'm too pretty for this (a night at Zebulon)

Coming in from New York, Persian-American Leyla Ebrahimi took to the Zebulon stage for the final School Night X KCRW night of 2025. She took to the stage in baggy pants, hoodie, and cap . . . and an infectious level of enthusiasm. She and her band opened up the set with a Led Zeppelin-ish opening for "planet you forgot me." She gave the audience a look and a smile and they responded with cheers. She then roamed the stage, pogo dancing while singing the dream pop tune. The song has these memorable lines of shared misery, "Now I'm an 18th century graveyard you're a fucking mess like me." 

Leyla Ebrahimi at Zebulon

Song Spotlight: Lily Waters' Big Star (a night at Harvard & Stone)

I first came across Lily Waters in 2017 and put the band on my list of favorite new bands for the year. I went back to look at that list of bands. I've got to say that was one awesome year of coming across new bands. Who were some other names on that favorite's list?

Lily Waters at Harvard & Stone

Song Spotlight: Murdo Mitchell's One Glass (a night at The Goldfish)

Glasgow-based singer Murdo Mitchell dropped on by The Goldfish for a Rocknite LA showcase. It was one memorable showcase by this singer-songwriter with a Scottish accent. At the beginning of the set, when the crowd was standing back some ten feet from the stage, he looked out into the crowd and motioned with his hands that he wanted everyone to come forward, "Any chance I can ask a couple of favors? Can you take a couple steps towards me? F*ck, if you don't understand English, just follow the universal hand signal." 

Murdo Mitchell at The Goldfish

Notes from Vivace Show Alerts (Los Angeles): Dec 21st - Dec 27th

A Single Show Alert 

Sunday, Dec 21st: Mike Watt & The Secondmen at Alex's Bar. Doors at 2 p.m.
In 2024, I covered his Happy Sundays Long Beach set for US Rocker Music, which you can read here.

Photo Review: TR/ST at Substance Fest (held at The Belasco)

TR/ST  (the moniker for Robert Alfons) was the closing band for both nights at this year's two day Substance Fest held at The Belasco. You can read my review of the festival at US Rocker Music (click here). This was my first time attending Substance Fest. To be honest, a main reason why I wanted to attend the festival was due to the fact that Silent Mass was playing the festival. Also, the fact that Pink Stiletto was playing, helped as well. If you follow my blog site, you know I have a soft spot for DIY local bands. (Though both Silent Mass and Pink Stiletto live outside of Los Angeles, both used to live in the city.) Of course, one could argue that all the bands at this festival were DIY bands. Let's just say I like catching bands that play the smaller stages. Substance Fest had three stages: the main stage and the two other stages being in the balcony and basement. I've been to The Belasco a handful of times and didn't even know they had a basement area (other than knowing that they had bathrooms down there). Also, to be honest, I actually didn't know there was a balcony area. I did some fun exploring of the venue during the festival. One of these days, I would mind having an all access pass and seeing what the back stage looks like.

Song Spotlight: Passion Mango's Boy (a night at Zebulon)

Passion Mango (the stage name for Connor Wilkinson) was the opening band for Hotel Mira's headlining show at Zebulon. Both are Canadian bands (though Hotel Mira's Charlie Kerr currently resides in Los Angeles). It was a time for the Los Angeles music scene to go out and support their northern neighbors. If interested, I wrote a review of the night over at US Rocker Music, which you can read here.  

Passion Mango at Zebulon

Song Spotlight: Nat Lefkoff's Broken Down House (a night at Zebulon)

Nat Lefkoff took the middle spot on a three band line up at Zebulon. The headliner was Hotel Mira (you can read my US Rocker Music write-up here). What I found interesting about the night was the fact that each band had a distinct fan base. The opener Passion Mango had their fans who rushed to the front of the stage as soon as the doors opened. Once their set ended, a few spots at the front of the stage opened up and Lefkoff's fans pushed forward to take those spots. 

Nat Lefkoff at Zebulon

Photo Reviews: Felly (a night at The Echo)

I recently had the pleasure to shoot Felly (the moniker for Christian Robert Felner) at The Echo. You can read my US Rocker Music review here. I have to admit that I had never heard of Felly before this night, but I'm now a fan. While hanging out waiting for his set to begin, someone approached me and asked me about my photography / reviews. He so happened to mention that he was going to school at USC. I did not know this Felly connection until doing my post-concert write-up research -- Felly graduated from USC in 2017. After learning that fact, I do wonder how many in the audience were USC students / graduates. 

Song Spotlight: Silent Mass' A Cold War City (a night at Substance Fest)

I've followed Ammo Bankoff since 2011 when I caught a band called Black Flamingo at a DIY music festival called Silver Lake Jubilee. The band also featured Kimi Recor. I had seen Recor the previous year at Silver Lake Jubilee in a band called Lilofee. Those encounters at the music festival started off my loyalty to these two musicians. Kimi Recor, perhaps, had the greater propensity to explore new music creations. Her best known bands after Black Flamingo were Draemings and Kevin, but there were others. The band Kevin was a duo with Quincy Larsen who I knew via a band called Cat Scan and now Dove Armitage. Bankoff went from Black Flamingo to fronting Brass Box. She then started up her currently band Silent Mass (originally named AMMO). Unfortunately, for the Los Angeles music scene, Recor has returned to her home country of Germany. Meanwhile, Bankoff has moved to Brooklyn. I do love recounting the Los Angeles music history. 

Silent Mass at Substance Fest (held at The Belasco)

Song Spotlight: mop's Save Yourself (a night at The Goldfish)

If I didn't work full time and could just have the time of my life out in the Los Angeles music scene, I would head out to the Rocknite LA showcase at The Goldfish far more often than I do. In early November, I took a look at their Instagram page to see who was playing that particular Wednesday night. I didn't initially recognize anyone on the bill, which isn't unusual as they have a way of uncovering bands and singers. I clicked on through each of the three bands / artist. The first Instagram link I selected was the band mop. To my surprise, it was a new band fronted by Laura Jean Anderson. I did not realize it, but at some point in the last couple years, she moved to New York. I was definitely heading out to The Goldfish -- and so did a lot of other familiar faces from the Los Angeles music scene. 

mop at The Goldfish