There's something missing . . .

I was walking a street in my neighborhood when I got this sudden sense that something was missing. I turned my head and there was this empty lot. Hmm. I started to think. I think there is supposed to be a house right there.


I found it a little shocking. I do walk around my neighborhood. I'm not someone who just sticks to my home and then just drives through the neighborhood. I was shocked that a house had just disappeared so quickly without me noticing anything: like prep work or clean up.


There it was -- just an empty lot with dark dirt covering the former location of the house.

At Spaceland to see Rosie and Trap

Monday night was one of those nights where I got a bug to see a couple random bands. I got to Spaceland just a tad after 9:30 p.m. When I got in Rosie and the Goldbug was on stage. I probably caught half their set. Rosie is the keyboardist and vocalist. She has a doll-like look with a flair for the theatrics. I loved her look. It was a fun set – the part I caught. They’re a London-based band. They were passing through after spending time at SXSW. The ending went something like this: Rosie asked for cheers. Very few cheers were submitted so she yelled, “For F*#@k sake, give it up.” And with that the audience cheered. Final note: It might seem strange, but I couldn’t help but think about wood toy soldiers and how they might act if they were given the temporary gift of life.

The next band up was The Temper Trap. This band is from Australia. Another one of those bands passing through Los Angeles via SXSW. This is a four piece all-male band. The band started off with what seemed like a glorious five minute musical introduction. They delivered the goods throughout the night. Things noticed about the band: When not using his guitar pick, the lead singer slipped it between his lips. I half wondered if he’s every nearly swallowed it. He also at times holds the microphone back handed. The lead singer also took a small role on the percussions. I’ve come across more bands that have the occasional double percussion playing: Local Natives and Whispertown 2000 are two examples. It is rather cool. (This is probably normal, but for me it is an interesting twist.) The bassist is tall and lanky and has this very cool way of moving around, sort of a long stretch move.

I’ll have to try and remember this time frame in the future. It seems that right after or perhaps even right before SXSW is a time where non-LA base bands come through to play before heading to or from SXSW. It is always nice to catch some non-LA based band.

Duke's March Ends

Ouch. Luckily, I didn't see the Clemson blowout game. Unfortunately, I witnessed this one. Ouch. Duke v. Villanova.

Defense. Mercy. Could Duke even find an open shot other than from three feet above the arch?

Fouls. Henderson, Thomas and Smith had early foul trouble. I couldn't help but think this was due to seeing the need to make something happen on the defensive end since nothing was happening on the offensive end. Two fouls come to mind. Thomas trying to flick a ball away from a Villanova player from behind. Singler attempting to steal an inbounds pass. I think both were attempts to just get something going on the defensive side, making for some easy points. Unfortunately, they were silly attempts that just got Duke into rotation issues.

Rotation. I could be wrong, but I think Coach K was hoping that Zoubek would change the face of the game.

Paulus. He made an immediate three pointer and then he made a most horrid turnover where he just threw the ball in between two players. Honestly, you can't be to harsh on the guy. This was the most playing time he's had in awhile and when you don't play you forget the tendencies of your teammates (I'm not a professional athlete so I guess I should say this is more of an opinion).

Zoubek. I really wish he could play the post versus just setting screens along the arc all night long. I really think if Zoubek had a strong post game, Duke could have just fed him the ball all night long. The guy has a nice touch. His two tip-ins were beauties.

Henderson. Even one of the CBS announcers felt sorry for him. The guy couldn't hit anything until the game was far gone. I wonder if playing in Boston where his father used to play had anything to do with it -- of course, different arena -- or perhaps I just need to give it up to Villanova.

Williams. I was impressed with that drive and taking the hard foul.

Next season. Hopefully Henderson returns. Hopefully, Zoubek finds a post game. Hopefully, Smith improves greatly at point guard.

***

Now it is time to concentrate on the Los Angeles Lakers. I don't get that Hollinger ranking on ESPN.com. The Lakers have FIVE less losses than Boston and yet Boston still ranks as the number two team. And in the last ten games the Lakers are 8-2 versus 5-5 for Boston. I know it is all mathematical, but something just seems off. Of course, the same is true with New Orleans at #13 and Phoenix at #11. New Orleans has 26 losses while Phoenix has 32.

What I'm Listening to Song List on INTraffiK.com

I occasionally have articles posted on Intraffik.com. Click the link to see a recent song list of mine.

Duke Marches On

March Madness has begun and the ACC performed poorly. As for Duke, we’ve made it to the Sweet 16 after a couple disappointing years. Of course, hopefully it doesn’t end there.

I didn’t get to see the first game: Duke v. Binghamton. There was some other game on television. I doubt I missed anything though. I did get to see the second half of the Duke v. Texas game. This was a much closer game than the Florida State game. I felt; however, that Duke played a much better game against Texas. The big thing was that Duke was far less reliant on the three point shot. I felt there was good post play in this game versus the Florida State game.

It got a bit nerve racking there with Kyle Singler and Lance Thomas fouling out. Brian Zoubek was at 4 fouls. It was interesting when Singler was called for his fifth foul. Both Singler and Zoubek were in the vicinity. As soon as Singler heard the whistle, he started pointed at Zoubek. I didn’t see Zoubek’s reaction. I wonder if he tried to encourage the referees to call the foul on him.

Now Duke has Villanova. Villanova pounded UCLA. I only saw the first half, but that told the story. And then I saw some interview clips. One UCLA player had a bloody lip. Duke is in for a battle. Hopefully, they play tough, as well. Singler, Thomas and Zoubek will need to watch their fouls; however. Duke has a better front court than in the recent past, but they still don’t have a ton of fouls to give up.

Movie Review: The Watchmen

Watchmen. Going into this movie, I was unfamiliar with the story. I hadn’t read the graphic novel before heading in. What got me excited about the movie; however, was the fact that the director was Zack Snyder – the director of “300.” Also, even though I don’t read comic books, I do enjoy watching comic book inspired movies. And hey, I loved the trailer.

Well . . . I consider this movie a mess. It isn’t as awful as the “Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” I found “Benjamin Button” just straight out boring. But “Watchmen” wasn’t much better. First, I hated the first few minutes of the movie. The movie was dedicated to the history of the Watchmen – all in quick clips. The triumphs. The deaths. Second, I hated the dramatic scenes with the rock soundtrack. I was in a large theatre that was probably 70 percent filled. People were laughing their heads off. I wasn’t sure why they were laughing. Was I not in on an inside “Watchmen” joke? Or did everyone else find these scenes as campy as I did?

As for the rest of the movie, I just couldn’t get into it. Who was setting up the Watchmen? I didn’t really care. It was a mystery movie in which I really didn’t care about the resolution.

AME at Club Dynamite: March 09

The Automatic Music Explosion at Club Dynamite. The highlight moment of the night was the ending. This was classic. The AME tradition at Club Dynamite is to walk out the door leading to the sidewalk patio after “Next Generation.” They then come back in for an encore. On this specific night, Jodie turned to the rear door. She attempted to open the door. It wouldn’t open. She turned around to face Jeff and said with a sheepish look, “It won’t open.” With that, AME lapsed into confusion. Chris was the first to move. He headed off to the side door. Matt decided to head to the bar. I think both were expecting the rest of the band to follow them so that they could execute an alternative plan. Instead, Jodie and Jeff stuck close to the door. Max decided that since things weren’t going as planned (during the set, Max needed a snare drum brought in since he busted his mid-set) he would pick up one of Jodie’s tambourines. He began tossing it into the air. The crowd was also in a bit of confusion regarding their next move. See, the Club Dynamite crowd knows their role in all of this. They yell, “Encore, encore, encore.” Everyone knows their proper roles for the end of an AME Club Dynamite set. There were a few mild screams of “Encore,” but as the amusing situation unfolded the crowd began to splinter just like AME with some yelling “Holy Shit. Holy Shit” while others just clapped and screamed. Finally Matt walked back from the bar. He took the microphone and said, “That’s it.”

And then one of the bartenders walked pass them all and towards the door that Jodie was still hanging around at, opened it up and walked on through.

In business school, this would be a classic case study. Everyone in the band assumed Jodie knew what she was doing. After all, she’d done in numerous times, which led to the false assumption that the door was obviously jammed shut. No one double checked her “work.” Instead of checking to make sure the unusual outcome was correct, they accepted it. With that, AME broke down into separate entities versus sticking together as a single team. Hey, sorry, I have a business school background and since this was such a classic situation I had to throw in a little business school analysis.

Comment of the night: I hate digital cameras.

Duke Basketball and March Madness

Duke got a two seed in the NCAA championship tournament. That sounds about right.

Note of embarrassment: I missed the Duke-Carolina game. I had other plans for the afternoon and so I recorded the game. I got home and saw a snow-covered television screen. I obviously did something wrong. Oh well, Duke lost. Perhaps it was for the best.

I caught all of the Florida State game. My issue with the game: it seemed that Duke scored the majority of their points from the three-point line. Actually, they scored ONLY 46% from three point range: 36 of their 79 points. Only 30% came from two-point land. And I have to think that not very many of those points came from point blank range. To me, that is a concern. There was the wonderful Nolan Smith dunk, but honestly that was him slashing into the lane versus someone going down low and fighting for position. There was very little feeding the post. I think this will hurt them in the tournament. If they go cold against a good team, they’re toast – and you know that they’re going to go cold somewhere down the line.

I think Duke can definitely get to the Sweet 16. Can they get to the Elite Eight? I guess that depends on Villanova. I think their trip down March ends with Pittsburgh for sure. If, by chance, Pittsburgh gets tripped up along the way, perhaps we have a legit chance of breaking through to the Final Four. We’ll see. The honest truth is that the game against Florida State didn’t get me overly excited about our chances in the tournament.

Dead Rose Beauty at King King in Hollywood

Dead Rose Beauty was the highlight of the night at King King in Hollywood. I got to King King around 10:30 p.m. I ran into a friend who said, “Did you park in the parking lot?” I replied, “No, I parked on the street.” His response, with a tad bit of astonishment, “Good, because it’s $15!”

Dead Rose Beauty didn’t go on stage until about midnight. I didn’t catch the first band in full, but the band probably didn’t go onstage until after 10 p.m. The second band played a Depeche Mode cover, “Stripped.” Hey, Depeche Mode’s new album is going on sale April 21, 2009. As DRB started to set-up on stage, a violinist was there with the band. I was thinking that they had added an additional member to their band. But as soon as she hooked up her violin, she moved off-stage. So what was up with that? Some things noticed: Before going back stage, the violinist and Nina pumped each other with a few back and forth screams of “Yah.” Thomas on guitar had a set of three guitars. He switched out based on the song. I usually like to see the song list. In fact, I usually take a photo of the song list, because it helps me when writing up my band blogs. I didn’t see a song list anywhere on stage. The violinist did join them for “Follow Me.” The violin added a perfect touch to this emotional song. The violinist contrasted with the aggressive style of the band. I know I wrote this in a previous blog, but I just can’t believe how low the bass player plays. Nina’s vocals went from the aggressive “Psycho Bitch” to the balladic “Follow Me” in fine manner. For some reason I spent some time watching the bands setting up and tearing down. Bands were hauling and taking down their equipment from the front of the stage, from stage left and stage right. A number of times, when I use initials for Dead Rose Beauty, I accidentally type down DBR. I couldn’t figure out why I was doing that. Finally I typed in DBR into yahoo.com. Up came the Duke Basketball Report. If you glance through my other blogs, you know I’m a Duke fan. I never think in terms of DBR when visiting ww.dukebasketballreport.com, but I guess it just slipped into my subconscious. I have to admit this was my first time at King King. To me, it is a rather non-descript look from the outside, but inside it is a nice set-up.

That #*!%#!@ bird

In the movie Failure to Launch, the Zooey Deschanel character Kit complains about a bird that chirps outside her window. I’m experiencing the same thing right now. There is a bird that is chirping the night away. I believe the bird finally stops chirping around 2 a.m. I need a pellet gun. (I’m not serious, just playing off of the movie – or maybe I am serious because I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep for about a week.)

Part 2 at Juanita's: Prizzy Prizzy Please

A comment left by joedanapcow on the recent Spider Problem at Juanita’s blog.

vivace, did you get to catch prizzy prizzy please that night? i think the summer camp comment was made by me -joedanapcow

Here’s the answer:

Prizzy Prizzy Please at Juanita’s. This is a band from Bloomington, Indiana. Their myspace page describes them as rock, punk and R&B. I’d add in dance crazy and just a tad of classical tossed in. I was out in the patio area when I heard a saxophone. Ah, I do love bands that expand beyond the normal instruments. I headed in. Prizzy Prizzy Please is a four piece band: bass, keys, saxophone and drums. It didn’t take long for others to come inside and start dancing. People were enjoying themselves immensely. Here’s the highlight about this band: the drummer. He must have springs in his stool, because throughout the set he’d jump up from his stool, going sky high. As gravity brought him back to his stool, he’d slam his sticks on his drums. Jump high, slam away, sink low, bounce on his stool. It was awesome. I could see a couple people to the side, cheering every time he skied it. Another note regarding their music: this band has the best transitions. By transition, I mean for example, transitioning from minor to major chords or transitions from a classical introduction via the saxophone to an all out punk sound and ending it with a dance sound. These transitions would all occur within one song, not each separate song switching sounds on us. It was awesome cool and the crowd demanded an encore.

This band called Pu$$y Cow also played. You may have read about this band in other blogs I've written. They’re the band with hats. What was most noticeable about the night: Hey, what was up with the four song lists taped all over the stage as well as two remaining Spider Problem song lists still taped up? And actually, considering how Shayne moves around the stage how could a couple song lists from them still grace the stage area. And unlike at Blue Star where Joe Dana didn’t spill his 40 ouncer, at Juanita’s within a song or two he knocked over not just one, but two beer bottles. The band did come close to disaster. Unseen by the band, some of their sound equipment was about to topple over. Luckily someone in the audience pointed it out and the sound equipment was saved from a crash.

454’s. Like with Prizzy Prizzy Please, this was the first time I saw this band. They’re energetic to the core. They have a Mexican Ranchera-punk combo sound. I’m no car expert so when I typed up 454 on yahoo, I was surprised to learn that 454 is a type of GM engine. Stand up bass, a couple guitars and a drummer. Their set was split into thirds. They went with the punk sound for the first third and then switched over to some Mexican Ranchera songs for the middle third and then added with some punk sounds again. They had a core fan base there. And, I believe, a mother of a band member showed up for the night. She was standing on a chair. If true, very cool.

Spider Problem @ Juanita's (Highland Park)

Comment of the night: You all look like you’re at summer camp. Are you all about to sing a camp song?

Response: Yes, we’re about to sing Kum Ba Yah.

Here’s a summer camp song for you all if that exchange makes you yearn for your summer camp days:

Late one night, when we were all in bed,
Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in the shed.
Her cow kicked it over,
Then winked her eye and said,
“There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!”
Fire! Fire! Fire!
Save my child! Save my child!
Jump baby jump!

This was one of those nights when a significant minority of the people knew each other. The summer camp comment was made when an individual walked out and saw close to 20 friends hanging around the fire pit.

Spider Problem at Juanita’s. I’ve followed Spider Problem for a little over a year. I last saw them in December at Echo Curio. I caught up with them again at Juanita’s on a Friday night. The night started off with Spider Problem setting up there gear at a leisurely pace. If you’ve seen Spider Problem before you know this leisurely pace doesn’t last long. When they were ready, Shayne (lead singer) gave some praise to Juanita’s and then they went at it. Shayne immediately grabbed her microphone stand and took it for a quick tour around the front of the stage. The microphone stand soon found itself underneath the stage; abandoned, having served its duty as a microphone holder.

This band does love liquids. Shayne grabbed a beer and poured it over the guitar player, John. He then decided to do the same. This band also loves going crazy. Here’s an observation I have on the band. This band purposely goes for off balanced poses, hoping that they end up sprawled against each other. Notice the photo below and the untied shoelaces. And if, as Shayne goes roaming across the front of the stage and makes contact with someone in the audience, that person better be ready for some one on one slam dancing.

Just a note: They were having some equipment problems, which was most unfortunate. If I heard correctly, they needed to make some adjustments to their song list due to these issues.

Just another note: This band has gone through some band changes. The guitar and lead singer are still the same, but late last year they brought on a new drummer. This time, they had a new bassist, who was a fill-in (male bassist – I mention this for the following sentence). I read their myspace blog and it mentioned that they now have a female bassist. (I might suggest reading their myspace blog. There is a new blog every one or two weeks. It is an entertaining blog.)

Side note: How do I describe Spider Problem to friends? They’re a band verging on the psychotic. They’re the equivalent of screaming, waifish banshees. Like I mentioned on a blog I wrote on them last year, watching them is like watching the roller derby. They’ll leave you bruised and cheerful, if you let them.

Seen on the Sunset Blvd sidewalk

I do wish sometimes that I always carried around a camera.

Written on the Sunset Blvd sidewalk in yellow chalk: Burn the Federal Reserve.

This was on the opposite sidewalk of the Arclight.

Side note: I learned that my mom reads blogs. I found that surprising.

Intraffik.com: IO Echo write-up

I mentioned awhile back that I was writing a longer piece on IO Echo @ the Echoplex for a website. It is now up for anyone interested at intraffik.com. To read the piece, click the following: intraffik.com. Go check out my longer write-up and the site itself. Go now.

Fresh and Easy Coupons

I’m addicted to the Fresh and Easy coupons that I get either in the mail or as a newspaper insert. Initially, it was a $5 coupon on purchases over $20 (excluding dairy and alcohol.) The more recent coupons are $6 off on a $30 purchase. I have a closet stacked with tissue boxes. My bathroom drawers have 4- and 6-pack soap bars. My kitchen area has bottled water on the floor. I half wonder if I’m being played for a sucker, but then I’m also thinking that this represents a 20-25% discount. I admit I usually spent a little more to assure myself that I’ve purchased at least $20 or $30 worth of product. I do think I’m benefiting from these coupons.

For about a month, I wasn’t getting any coupons. I was going through withdrawals thinking, “I was hoping to get some toilet paper with my next coupon.” Luckily, I finally received another coupon.

Unfortunately for Fresh and Easy, these coupons aren’t making me a loyal customer. I still do my weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Dead Rose Beauty @ Private Performance Party

I was invited to see a private performance party thrown by Dead Rose Beauty at Nightingale Studios in Burbank. I never heard of Nightingale Studios. It is on West Providence. I didn’t look around, but it looks like a nice sized complex. The set was in one of the studios. The size of the studio was larger than Fox and Hounds, but smaller than El Cid. Dead Rose Beauty supplied snacks and drinks. I didn’t eat anything, but I did notice a bag of chips from Trader Joe’s -- the one I buy (the only reason I mention this is so that I can give Trader Joe’s a mention).

The last time I caught Dead Rose Beauty was at The Key Club on a Steel Panther Monday night. That was way back in late September. They then went on tour with Meat Loaf and afterwards lost their drummer. They just recently got a new drummer, Sammy J Watson. This private performance party was to introduce Sammy J Watson to the DRB fan base.

Some show highlights and other comments

DBR had a huge banner that hung across the back wall.

The start of the set was signaled when a group of guys moved up to the front of the stage along with a couple photographers.

"Psycho Bitch," the coolest DBR song, was their third song.

Lead singer Nina has gone from a blond to brunette (or maybe just a darker shade of blond).

Cash plays the bass lower than any other local bassist I know. On occasion, he also plays the bass in a near vertical fashion. He plays the bass in a wild animal manner. I swear he’s one aggressive bass player.

It being an introduction of the drummer, I have to say that this drummer has one impressive drum set. That drum set had nine cymbals. I only counted eight, but it was pointed out that there were nine. The ninth was a very small cymbal.

Nina has one of the smoothest body motions of any lead singer of an LA local band. This is the result of a dance background.

I believe three of the DRB members are from Denmark.

There was a song dedicated to Nina’s teenage sister.

It was getting hot in the studio. The whole band was sweating

Hey, got to mention Thomas on guitar. He also does background vocals. See below photo of Nina pointing at him. She tends to move in his direction during the set, the guitar driving her movements.

The studio was filled with fans as well as a few hanging out in the hallway.

As I was leaving for the night, one of the studios was being used by another band.

AME @ the Roxy with Switchblade Kitty

I arrived with a friend at the The Roxy at around 9:15 p.m. When we arrived there were no bands on stage. My friend turned to me (since I was the one who said I wanted to show up at around 9 p.m. to catch the first band) and said, “This is like we showed up early to the party.” A few minutes later, Fat City Reprise came on stage. So I said to her, “We weren’t that early. Anyways, we needed to get here by 9:30 p.m. to get in for free.” She decided that she needed a smoke break. She returned perhaps ten minutes later and asked, “Who’s this band?” I replied, “It is still Fat City Reprise.” She said, “Are you sure? On the schedule outside, it says they’re the second band. We missed the first band?” Yes, we missed the first band. We were in total confusion due to our arrival time in between bands. Meanwhile, another friend arrived just at the 9:30 p.m. deadline for free entry. What does this all mean? I was sort of too distracted to focus in on Fat City Reprise. I will say this, with the electronic keyboard they have – in my opinion – a blend between rock and piano jazz. Note: Random observation that all the guys in the band have long hair except for the drummer.

The Automatic Music Explosion got introduced by Rodney on the Roq. He came up on stage and wished Jodie happy birthday. She was thrilled with it all. He led out the singing of “Happy Birthday.” He was rather modest on stage saying something like, “I’m Rodney on the Roq. I’m a DJ on KROQ. You may not have heard of me as you’re probably asleep during my show.” After the birthday wishes, AME got started off with one of their newer songs, “Get High.” They had a strong fan base there. One guy roamed the front of the stage, going from one end to the other, saying hello to various friends along the way. This indicates the level of friendship that revolves around AME. It is a friendly crowd that follows them around. Some notes: Jodie makes hanging around a bass drum and smashing tambourines into dust look sexy. Max on drums is not only the best dressed drummer, but also outdoes the band on creative facial paint usage.

Switchblade Kitty. I stayed around for Switchblade Kitty – unlike my last time at the Roxy on a Monday night. They’re a wild bunch. I won’t be posting any photos of them as google might come along and tell me to remove them. They use duck tape to hide certain strategic assets. Other than the obvious selling point, I think they actually sound rather good and have a really awesome stage presence. As for the audience, I think there were two sets that night. There is the set that stands far back from the stage and then there is the set that just wants to get fully involved in the show. See, Switchblade Kitty members have a tendency to toss their beer into the audience. So a number of folks pulled back from the stage as soon as the beer started flying. There were two guys; however who drank it all up, and were up front and soaking wet. At the end of the night when everyone was outside, at least two of the Switchblade Kitty band members walked outside and hung out with the crowd. One just walked out with her duck tape, but eventually covered up with a jacket. Note: one of the backup musicians is Matt Fuller from The Mulhollands.