The self described heavy metal, punk rock band Zig Zags shook the foundations of the Zebulon throughout their 13 song set - that being from the stage to the floor to the back step benches. As the band said, "Not bad for a Tuesday night." It was a free night, but they didn't treat it as one. They obliterated the more than willing crowd with a 45 minute set.
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| Zig Zags at Zebulon |
Tender Misfit (the moniker for Ariel Beesley) recently concluded her first headliner tour that took her across California to celebrate the release of her Stargirl album. I got to catch her at the Los Angeles Oblivion stop. It was my first time catching a set since seeing her twice in 2024 -- a close to two year gap. During that time frame, she was busy writing up new songs. I did a setlist check and the only song that was similar between 2026 and the previous time I crossed paths with her was "Dirt."
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| Tender Misfit at Oblivion |
A Handful (bucketful) of Show Alerts
It was a special night at Bar Lubitsch. Grant Owens of WFNM was celebrating his birthday. Opening up was the recently formed Laguna Hill. The band is the husband-wife team of Ryan and Lena Doyle. They mentioned during the set that they formed the band on the inauspicious date of April 1st, 2026. Also, the recently married couple moved from New York to Laguna Beach. The folk-pop band has Lena on violin and Ryan on guitar. They share vocal duties. Their Spotify bio has this detail about their music, "their music reflects real-life experiences and a shared creative chemistry."
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| Laguna Hill at Bar Lubitsch |
I came across OP ED at Echo Park Rising last year. Megan Tracy suggested that I catch them as one of the members of the band is Marlon Rabenreither. He fronts the band Gold Star and both of us are fans of the band. The rock-punk set was so dynamic and awesome that I put them on my list of favorite new bands of 2025 (see link here).
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| OP ED at Gold-Diggers |
I was trying to figure out how I was going to plan out a recent week of music. I knew I had two days locked down towards the end of the week. I had a random day to plan out. On Monday, I checked out Ryan Pollie's Instagram page to see what he had scheduled for his showcase at The Fable. One of the bands playing was Small Forward and I knew I was going to do the short drive from Glendale to Eagle Rock.
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| Small Forward at The Fable |
Grant Owens, founder of WFNM, was celebrating his birthday at Bar Lubitsch. One of the artists performing was vocal talent Sāde Frame. Back in 2021, she got an American Idol golden ticket. A year later, she won one of the the weekly "Love Song" contests held by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for her song "Dating Isn't Fun," which was the first song she performed for the birthday party festivities.
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| Sāde Frame at Bar Lubitsch |
When I saw that Maudlin Strangers was on the schedule at Hotel Ziggy for a WFNM showcase, I immediately recognized the band name. It was a flashback to 2014 when I went off to the Bootleg Theatre (the current location of 2220 Arts) to catch their August Residency. What's a residency, some Los Angeles music fans might ask? Back in the day, local venues across Los Angeles would set aside Monday nights as a free night of music and a specific band would play each of those nights. It was always free entrance. Zebulon still carries on that tradition off and on.
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| Maudlin Strangers at Hotel Ziggy |
Healing Force of the Universe opened up in late 2023 and it only took me a little over a year and a half to make it out there. What's my problem? I'm an unfortunate creature of habit these days, rotating around specific venues / promotors. In Sonic Dreams gave me a necessary push as the promotor was putting on a show at the record store-venue. The venue is located in Pasadena and I would say that most of my visits to the city is driven by a trip to Samy's Camera. Off I went with a good idea of where the venue was located and ended up accidentally driving past Walnut St. Pasadena is the city of one way streets and so I ended up with a couple failed attempts to get one block north. I do have a tendency to drive past spots. The next day, I drove over to a restaurant and instead of turning into the parking lot of the restaurant, I drove past it and turned into the parking lot of an auto service business.
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| Sisters of Black Mountain at Healing Force of the Universe |
A Handful (Massive) of Show Alerts
Sunday, Jul 12th: El Colmo and OP ED at Alex's Bar. Doors at 2 p.m.Aden Black has been a fixture at the WFNM showcase over the last couple years. Back in 2024, I covered Hailey Wild and she was a backup singer (click on this link for a photo that has Aden Black in it). She's also done a couple of WFNM sets. I was finally able to catch one of those sets at Hotel Ziggy. It was a rare Tuesday night event and the venue was packed. In fact, I might say it was an over flow situation as people were standing out in the lounge area of the hotel. Those fans ranged from their twenties to their sixties.
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| Aden Black at Hotel Ziggy |
I'm not certain when I first came across The Mormons. A possible date was in 2007 when they played the Eagle Rock Music Festival. If that was my first encounter, it was very appropriate. I've always associated The Mormons with Los Angeles music festivals. In 2010, I shot the FYF Festival and as I left the festival (exhausted from a full day of shooting), one of my hopes was to run across the band playing somewhere outside the festival grounds. I was not disappointed.
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| The Mormons outside FYF in 2010 |
It was a Friday night so why not enjoy a full night of music. I did a rare venue jump (for me, maybe not for others) by starting out at Zebulon where I caught the full line-up. Then I went off to the Bigfoot Lodge to end the night at just past the stroke of midnight. Stephanie Wittmer was playing the Americana Joy showcase and was celebrating the release of her "Texas Is Haunted" single.
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| Stephanie Wittmer at the Bigfoot Lodge |
