The Cigarette Bums, High Life Cavaliers and The Mo-odds at Blue Star

It was off to Blue Star to catch The Mo-odds, High Life Cavaliers and The Cigarette Bums. I have to say I was amazed by High Life Cavaliers. The bassist brought his A-game to the night; one just had to keep an eye on him the whole time, because he was just a constant blur of movement. The Mo-odds were fun, as well. They were the main attraction of the night. Folks were just sitting down and a request was made for folks to come stand closer to the band. As for the Cigarette Bums, I over-heard that it was their second show of the day. A hard working band.


Cigarette Bums



High Life Cavaliers









The Mo-odds

Lakers Parade 2010!!!

It was off to the Lakers Parade 2010. First off, I have to admit this probably ranks worse of the four celebrations I attended. It was driven by two things. First, I had high expectations. I thought the buses were going to stop and there were going to be interviews along the way -- at least that is how I read the LA Times article posted over the weekend. There were interviews, but apparently for television, not the folks along the parade route (at least, where I was standing -- I noticed Kobe being interviewed as his bus passed on by). Second, I was on the wrong side of the street, because I think most of the starters were on the other side of the bus.

Before heading off to the parade route, I turned on KTTV/1070 AM and learned that there weren't any portable bathrooms along the route. Some guy was offering his bathroom for $5. That stopped the water drinking and my using of a toilet before getting onto the Red Line. I got onto the Red Line at around 9:30 a.m. It was packed with fans.

I got to the Staples Center and was met with the following crowd.




With more folks exiting from the Blue Line.



I decided to walk south and ended up around here. Note: The nearest police officer was rather cool. Talking with the fans. It was almost likely zooming back in time, a neighborhood cop that you now only see in old 1930s movies.

Though I found one thing interesting regarding the police and fans. A police officer was coming around with a video camera, filming the audience. The audience would cheer like crazy. I was like, why would you do that, you know they're filming us to use as potential evidence should anything illegal happen.



Fisher for President and a Kobe is better than Shaq posters.



Kobe/Championship Banner.



First sight of buses.



Cheerleaders.



Cheerleaders.



Cheerleader.



Trophy.



Magic -- a bit blurry, because the bus train was going pass so quickly, sorry for being a bit irritated with that.



AC Green.



Kareem.



And the bus passing.



I have to say that even though I don't give the parade a big thumbs up, there is something about just being along the parade route. It is one of those city events that I think everyone should attend sometime in their life. This is Los Angeles. All the cultures (admittedly, a younger age demographic) and doing so peacefully.

And the folks I was near, we actually had some small talk. A guy walked by with a Celtics banner crossed out and I attempted to take a photo of it along with another guy. He turned to me and asked, "Did you get that." I replied, "No, all blurry." And at the end, I was asked to take a photo of his group of friends.

A reporter surrounded.




Tattoo: A guy with a crossed out LAPD on his head and a line that read, "My mind plays tricks on man."


See LA Times article for some additional thoughts on the parade.

The Mulhollands and The Shakers at Fox and Hounds

It was off to see The Mulhollands and The Shakers at Fox and Hounds on a Saturday Night. I was worried I might miss one of the two bands. I got delayed in my return from the Make Music Pasadena -- a story I'll get into more should I get around to writing an article on the Pasadena night for intraffik.

The Shakers showed their "Villain" video, a premier. I was very impressed. I wonder how long it took to film the video.

Below are a handful of photos from the night.

The Mulhollands






The Shakers

Boxcar Drifters, EZ Tiger, Spare Parts for Broken Hearts @ El Cid

It was off to El Cid to catch a Rob Z night. The first band of the night was Boxcar Drifters. I'm not sure they have a website so I'll just give you the lead singer's old band's myspace page, Present Tense. The band has a jazzy feel to it.

Next up was EZ Tiger. I believe one of the members of the band is helping out with Rock Camp for Girls. They were taking donations for the camp. I thought their song "Tiger Trance" was their best.

The final band was Spare Parts for Broken Hearts. One of the band members is Laurita from The Randies. At this point, I'm assuming The Randies are done, which is sad because I liked The Randies. If so, this is a great new band for her. From what I heard, this was only their second set ever and they were amazingly tight as a band. There was a nice carry-over from The Randies, a bass string broke. (One of my found memories is counting how many times one of The Randies broke a guitar string.) Too bad Jon from UCP wasn't around as he could have helped out -- below is one of my favorite photos. It isn't a great photo. It just shows someone helping out another with a guitar repair.



Though Jon wasn't there, EZ Tiger came to the rescue, letting Spare Parts for Broken Hearts borrow their bass.

Noticed: When seeing the Spare Parts for Broken Hearts drummer, I couldn't help but imagine her as a biker riding up the mountains of France during a leg of the Tour de France. She was attacking those drums.

Boxcar Drifters



EZ Tiger





Spare Parts for Broken Hearts

Shanghai River and Spider Problem @ Vlad the Retailer

It was off to a new music venue called Vlad the Retailer. It is a smallish store that from what I could tell sells books, VHS tapes, art, cloths and maybe even a couch and piano. Essentially, a little bit of everything. It is right next to Los Angeles City College and two places I've posted blogs on: Scoops and Pure Luck. I was there to catch Shanghai River and Spider Problem.

Shanghai River was in town from Texas. They were great and I wouldn't mind checking them out again.

My big reason for showing up was to check out Spider Problem. The past two times I've seen Spider Problem, I do believe they've ended their set at the half way point. For example, I saw them at the Redwood and Shayne scraped her knees so badly that they decided to end the set. This time around, I do believe they were able to make it through their set.

As Spider Problem was setting up, a group of perhaps close to ten showed up, a nice number of loyal friends.

Heard from someone in the crowd: I heard that I have to check out Spider Problem, because the lead singer goes nuts on stage.

I think Shayne wanted to go much more nuts on stage during their set than she did, but she was met with an interesting dilemma. The audience formed a wall along the stage area and so as she bumper car-ed her way into the audience she just got bumped back towards the stage. She wasn't able to move that wall more than an inch or so before she got bounced back to where she started. Of course, when Joe from Pu$$y Cow decided to get to the front, he just moved everyone in front aside and took his place upfront.

Note: I haven't seen a full Spider Problem set in awhile (as mentioned above). For some reason, I think they've changed up a tad where there is a shift away from screaming vocals to a touch of the occasional melody in the vocals. It works.

Comment: We'll see you again in Los Angeles . . . because we live in Los Angeles.

Shanghai River









Spider Problem

Aaron Beaumont and Idyllists at Hotel Cafe

It was off to Hotel Cafe to catch Aaron Beaumont and Idyllists. Aaron Beaumont's set was filled mainly with new material (new to me). He's recently been collaborating with Emma Fitzpatrick (see below photo). The Idyllists were on next. They had this request for folks to come stand at the front of the stage. It didn't work out well for them until midway through their set when finally they were able to get folks to come up close. It was a fun, high energy set.

Aaron Beaumont







Idyllists