Lucy Schwartz at Bordot, It's A School Night

Lucy Schwartz at the Bordot, It's A School Night. More to come on intraffik.com. A trio of photos for now.

It was getting a little late for me, but I did catch probably half of A Fine Frenzy's set. I definitely wish to catch a full set in the future.

The Mo-odds, Restavrant, High Life Cavaliers, Hello My Name Is Red and Don Juan Y Los Blancos

What a crazy weekend of music. Friday night hanging out at Echo Curio. Saturday night hanging out just east of Downtown to catch some great bands: High Life Cavaliers, Hello My Name Is Red, Don Juan Y Los Blancos, Restavrant and The Mo-odds in the U-Haul show. And just to note: I missed Health Club. I was off at Pershing Square catching Autumn Nights and so missed out on their set.

The night was hosted by The Mo-odds. The first band that I caught was High Life Cavaliers. There was some high praise for them afterward. I was happy to hear that as I was just blown away by their set when I first heard them over at Blue Star. Hello My Name Is Red and Don Juan Y Los Blancos came up next. Don Juan Y Los Blancos had folks dancing and reminded folks that red dresses are hot. The Mo-odds had everyone going nuts. Folks formed a mosh pit in the rather tight confines. Joe from Pu$$y Cow was there to give a piggy back ride. And Restavrant closed out the night with a cool accustic set (I don't know if this was due to the electric generator running low).

Concern of the night: Someone voiced concern to me that at some point in the night someone would fall out of the back of the U-Haul. It didn't happen though the two of us did notice one person who nearly tripped on his way out.

Comment of the night: We're here with three-quarters of the Mo-odds.

High Life Cavaliers



Hello My Name Is Red






Don Juan Y Los Blancos

The Mo-odds

Restavrant

The Shakers, Mad Planet and The Swagger Sticks at Echo Curio

It was off to Echo Curio to catch The Swagger Sticks, The Shakers and Mad Planet. In between, I stopped off at Ballard's Artwork Framing to see a photo exhibit displaying the work of some of our local music photographers.

The Swagger Sticks have a new band mate. As you can see in the first photo, she had a notebook that she was using throughout the set. At one point, a song came up that she didn't have any notes on and so she asked, "What are the lyrics?"

The Shakers were next. I missed their first song as I took off to Ballard's. Two photos I really liked there was a shot of The Like at Silverlake Jubilee and a Happy Hollows portrait photo. The Shakers killed it, giving us all a great set. To close out the night was Mad Planet. Last photo, there was some body twisting going on there.

The Swagger Sticks

The Shakers

Mad Planet

At a DUI checkpoint in Glendale

So I'm driving home on a Saturday night and I come across a DUI checkpoint. I know the drill. I get my license out. As I'm looking around, I notice three cars pulled over. Sort of a haul. I get to the officer and I show him my license.

Officer. "So Mr. Notes from Vivace, have you been drinking tonight."
Me. "No, nothing."
Officer. "Not ever water?"
I'm like, what? "No, actually."
Officer. "You do know that water makes up most of your body."
I'm like giving him the stare that one probably shouldn't give an officer. A stare that indicates total irritation.
Officer. "I've got to entertain myself somehow. It's a long night."

Okay, so the officer was trying to play cool with someone who obviously wasn't drunk. I found it somewhat amusing. But then I also live in Glendale where I think a lot of the cops can be jerks at times. Friends call the cops in Glendale Nazi cops. So part of me was a bit irritated. Oh well, I guess in the end I have to give the guy props for having a sense of humor.

Eastern Conference Champions, Pity Party, Andy Clockwise and Come On Go With Us at Spaceland

It was off to Spaceland to catch Eastern Conference Champions, Pity Party, Andy Clockwise and Come On Go With Us.

Pity Party made some cool comments. "You can hand us cash when we get off stage. It will not be tax deductible." "They clearly feel deserving of an exit." They ended their set with a minimalist song and the lead singer's head slowly sinking below her keyboard. Eastern Conference Champions simply rocked the night. It was amazing how Spaceland just filled up to capacity as they were setting up. Joshua played with a sprained right hand. Greg had a fever. It was all good. Andy Clockwise was the final band of the night. Midnight is normally when I head off towards home, but I stuck around for a couple songs. I'll have to see this band again. The first two songs were great. And lead singer Andy just doesn't stop moving. I walked in while Come On Go With Us was playing. I swear they called themselves something different at the end of their set, but I'll go with the band name Come On Go With Us. They had a nice Halloween themed Jack O' Lantern to the side.

Come On Go With Us



Pity Party







Eastern Conference Champions





Andy Clockwise

Summer 2010 Movie Rankings

Awesome

1. Toy Story
2. Inception
3. Salt

Great Popcorn Movie

4. Iron Man 2
5. The Expendables
6. Machete
7. Cyrus
8. Despicable Me

Just short of being a great popcorn movie, but just a touch

9. Predators
10. Scott Pilgram vs. the World
11. Shrek
12. Dinner with the Schmucks
13. Twilight Eclipse

Whatever

14. Knight and Day

Oh mercy

15. Robin Hood
16. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
17. A-Team
18. The Other Guys
19. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
20. Get Him To The Greek

I looked at my movie rankings from the summer of 2009. I ranked 21 movies last summer. I only listed two that I definitely wished I'd missed. For this summer, I have six -- and slightly less movies watched. I have the same number of great movies at three, but last year I had more movies that I ranked just below great: 7 versus 5. Yes, 2009 was a much better year for summer movies.

Local Natives at Music Box

A little late here, but I've had some other life events suck up my time over the last couple days.

Also, sorry, no photos from the night. I figured any photos I took at the Music Box wouldn't come out all that great -- we (intraffik) didn't ask for press passes.

The night started out great with Love Language. They hail from North Carolina and so I couldn't help but wonder if some of them were Duke fans. Or perhaps Carolina fans?

Local Natives came on next. Their set started out with a video: an artistic take on the words Local Natives. It was cool. Then they came on stage and the crowd went wild. Noticed: two distinct clouds of marijuana. I have to wish I had a better memory for song titles. There was a song in the middle of their set, which was just so so so sweet. For a couple of their final songs, the string instruments came out. I'll admit I was hoping Amanda Violin would come out on stage. Oh well. I miss her energy on the violin. With the end of their set, along with the two encore songs, I looked around me and up to the balcony and the crowd was giving cheers. How far Local Natives has come over the last couple years? Maybe the next time I see them they'll be playing at the Greek.

Photo from the FYF Fest.

The Mulhollands, Kozmonaut and Hyena at Club Moscow

It was off to Club Moscow to catch The Mulhollands, Kozmonaut and Hyena. I was telling a friend that the one cool thing about going to Club Moscow is that I catch bands that I wouldn't normally see -- such as the Kozmonaut and Hyena.

I missed the first band, Royal Heist, as I arrived a little later than I normally do. Hyena were the first band I saw. They're a two piece band that had the crowd dancing. Next up were the Kozmonaut. I noticed the lead singer playing with some spilled liquid on the stage. I think lead singers get bored while waiting for their band mates to set up their gear. When everything was set up, the lead singer knocked off her shoes and off they went on an intense filled set. "That song is about being in love . . . and I'm also a liar." Aafter reaching out to grab the hand of a young woman, the lead singer said, "Sometimes you see a hand and you've just got to grab it." A special cheers goes out to the guitarist who was playing with a dislocated finger. The Mulhollands were the final band of the night -- one of my favorite Los Angeles bands. An amusing interaction went on for their last song. Matt (guitar) took off on the next song and you soon saw Jeff (bass) coming over and then Matt stopped playing. Sarah Jeanette responded, "Matt just wanted to do a solo thing." Yes, Matt accidentally started off on the wrong song. His response, "I'm just looking at the list." Earlier, I saw Matt putting hit set list on the monitor. But it fell off and so he was looking over at Jeff's set list. Obviously, Jeff's set list was too far away to get a proper read. Hey, it all ended well, though.

Hyena







Kozmonaut







The Mulhollands

A Movie Review: Machete

Machete. Okay, ignoring the politics involved here (which obviously will piss off 50% of the US population), what did I think of the movie? It was a fun movie. The ending is such a chaotic stupid frenzy that one just has to sit back and enjoy the whole mess. And one can't ignore the first five minutes or so that involves a beautiful nubile young woman and heads flying in every single direction.

The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year at Silverlake Lounge

I have to say I’ve seen some good bands at Silverlake Lounge over the past month. This time around I caught The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year. When I walked in The Lonely Wild were doing their sound check. “There’s some volume in the house.” “Yes, I can hear myself.” “I forgot about Eddie’s vocals.” They got everything worked out and then started out on what turned out to be a most beautiful set. Towards the end of their set, I heard someone yell out “Powerful” a couple times. The band was hitting their time limit and the lead singer wondered if they would be stepping on anyone’s toes by playing their last two songs. The crowd urged them to do so. If Silverlake Lounge had attempted to shut them down, there might have been screams of anger from the audience.

Next up was the residency band for the month, Family of the Year. Both The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year have an unstated folk sound that charms you the more you listen. The lead singer for Family of the Year was very happy about their residency. “It took four years,” I believe I heard him say. They had a couple friends from the band Black Flamingo joining them for their full set. Noticed: The keyboardist had notes piled up on her keyboard. Some fell off. The bassist picked them up during a break and the two exchanged a smile. Noticed 2. The lead singer kept asking the singer from Black Flamingo to hand over a glass of water that was off to the side. Finally, the singer from Black Flamingo had to point out that the glass was empty.

The Lonely Wild







Family of the Year (back-up singing from Black Flamingo)