My Top 10 list of 2011 Bands

Okay, so as 2011 started out, I was concerned that I wasn't seeing that many new bands that I found interesting.  Then the middle of the year hit and my Los Angeles music life improved.  It improved to the point that my initial 2011 list of candidates needed significant cuts to get down to ten (ish).

Here's my criteria on putting a band on my list:  I try to see a band twice before putting them on this list.  So I initially saw some of these bands in 2010.

Best Coast. I saw them at the 2010 FYF Fest. I saw them again at Make Music Pasadena. Their sound makes you happy to be alive on a summer day.

Black Flamingo. So you want to feel gothic? Do you want to be swept away by chants that cry out and then disappear?

The Child. I caught this band, because Lauren Rocket joined them. And then I kept going back and back again. 'Boomerange' will hook you.

Family of the Year. Americana at its finest.

He's My Brother, She's My Sister. Expressions of joy. You can tell they love life (I guess I should clarify this as being when they're on stage as I don't know them personally).

Lonely Trees. Monsters are Waiting II? That is perhaps not appropriate to say, but if you wanted to see Annalee Fery back on stage . . .

Love Grenades. I saw them at Silverlake Jubilee and fell in love.

The Mots Nouveaux. This is an Aaron Beaumont project that is still focused on the 20s, but with a female lead.

Raining Jane. One can sit back at Hotel Cafe and enjoy.

Sabrosa Purr. I saw this band a couple years back. I thought they were okay, but not anything special. Then fast forward and I say sometimes it takes a band a little time to find their sound. Wow.  Or maybe I just didn't realize how special they were at the time.  Whatever, just go check them out.

Extra:

We Are The World. I only saw this band once at Silverlake Jubilee. Unreal.

And just a quick look at my list from 2010 (yeah, last year my ten turned into 12):

Cold Cave
Future Ghost
Lonely Wild
Lucy Schwartz
Nico Vega
Rocket
Seasons
The Like
Gliss
The Submarines
High Life Cavaliers
Eastern Conference Champions

He's My Brother, She's My Sister at Harvard & Stone

It was off to Harvard and Stone to catch He's My Brother, She's My Sister.  Before going to Harvard and Stone, I wanted to know when they planned to hit the stage.  I went to their facebook page and I saw that they planned to go on at 11 p.m. sharp.  I figured that in "musician talk" that meant 11:30 p.m., but I decided to show up at 10:45 p.m. just in case.  And would you know it, they started right at 11 p.m.

They performed two sets Thursday night.  I only stayed for the first set -- I'm one of those folks that goes to bed way too early.  Their first set was just over 30 minutes.  And it was a beautiful set.  Tap dancing.  Bass thumping.  Brother-Sister pairing.  And an enthusiastic crowd.  What more can one want -- other than the ability to stay out longer to catch a second set, so so sad I wasn't able to do so.  I hope them the best on their upcoming tour.  I'll be sure to catch them when they come back to Los Angeles.

Future Dancing and Cody the Band at The Bootleg

A pleasant night at The Bootleg with Future Dancing and Cody the Band. Though it was post-Christmas, there was still that feeling of Christmas cheer. And the two bands presented sets that felt like one could hang around the fireplace while listening.




Cody the Band




Future Dancing

Queen Kwong, Hexham Heads and The Singularity at Club Moscow

As usually, Club Moscow booked a wide range of music genres on this specific Wednesday night. First up was the sophistical dance music of The Singularity. I say sophisticated, because the lead singer had a glass of wine. Not a slam. Just a style statement. And I'm pretty sure I was hanging out in line with their friends. We then had Queen Kwong with lead singer, Carré Callaway, saying that she had no funny jokes for us. This change in bands had us going from dance to rock.  As the set came to a close, we were entertained with the awesome screaming style that Queen Kwong throws at their audience. Did Carré notice someone texting during her last song and decide to scream into that person’s face? Best of luck to Queen Kwong as they head off to New York to record an album.  I'm looking for to the release.  Ending the night was Hexham Heads. A shoegaze sounding band with a willingness to slow things down.  And so a fun night at Club Moscow: dance to rock to shoegaze.

The Singularity



Queen Kwong



Hexham Heads

Hank and Cupcakes, The Mo-odds and FIM at Los Goblos

At Los Gobles, FIM, The Mo-odds and Hank and Cupcakes played. This was my first time seeing FIM. The Mo-odds rocked it as always. The interesting find for the night was Hanks and Cupcakes.  They’re from New York, which immediately reminded me of Matt and Kim.  Both have a female drummer who draws you in with their charisma. Well, okay, Matt plays keys and Hank plays bass. I guess I should just say that they are both from the New York area and are two piece bands and both bands make you want to dance and both bands make me wonder about how cool it might be to hang out in New York for a month to catch its local music scene. Though I will admit there was not a ton of dancing at Los Gobles, but I blame it on the weather. Yes, we were inside at Los Gobles, but it was still freezing. I think everyone had iced up and weren’t able to give Hank and Cupcakes the Los Angeles welcome they deserved. My suggestion to Hank and Cupcakes: I think you should play Club Moscow.  I'm betting the audience would love you there (not that we didn't love you at Los Gobles).

FIM



The Mo-odds



Hank and Cupcakes

Manhattan Murder Mystery and Jonny Corndawg at The Satellite

Satellite. First off was Jonny Corndawg, a travelling musician. He gave us a country inspired set that had the audience tuned in. He told folks to say hello as he wanted to make some friends out in Los Angeles. Hopefully, some did. Manhattan Murder Mystery hit the stage next. Now the audience went crazy for them. A small mosh pit immediately formed. And as is the norm for Manhattan Murder Mystery, they had a ton of musicians on stage with them. I am under the impression that they are a three person band. For this night, they had five others join them on stage. And to go with their free form of what a band is, random folks walked up on stage, delivering drinks and just standing around for a bit. To end the set, they had a number of folks join them on stage, dancing around to the craziness of their music. As always, their lead singer slipped away as the music ended. My question: what’s up with the vomiting on stage? Props for singing through an illness.

Jonny Corndawg



Manhattan Murder Mystery

Merry Christmas

Hope you are having a great Christmas day.

A Movie Review: A Dangerous Method

A Dangerous Method. This is a well made movie, but a bore. It looks into the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Though I found it a bore, I think this is a movie that those who are into psychology will really enjoy. There is a lot of talk about psychoanalysis. If you're someone like me who went to the movie more to see Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen and aren't into the theories of psychology, you might feel like taking a nap. For those unlike me, I could see how you could love the theories that come out of this movie.

LA Times Interview: Jessica Chastain

I didn't know who Jessica Chastain was until she broke out in three films that I saw this year: The Help, The Debt and Tree of Life. And in all three movies she played different character types. Read a write-up on her at the LA Times.

Eastern Conference Champions, Happy Hollows and Gothic Tropic at Bootleg

The normal door/ticket folks were back at The Bootleg versus my previous visit. Cool. The local music scene world was back to normal.

Gothic Tropic hit the stage first. They're a three piece band where I would say they're all playing to their own sound. And yet it all works. This is probably why they're called Gothic Tropic.

Eastern Conference Champions came up second. As always, they rocked the audience. I over-heard one conversation where this was said, "They're one of only two local bands that I'll catch every time." The second band was Vanaprasta. Yeah, I love Eastern Conference Champions. As happens maybe once or twice a month, I noticed that I had a huge smile on my face. They introduced a Christmas song towards the end of their set. I believe you can download it from their Facebook page.

The Happy Hollows ended the night.  Lead singer Sarah must have one of the sweetest personalities of Los Angeles bands.  After about three or four songs, one of her guitar strings broke (per Sarah, this was the first time it ever happened to her while on stage).  As the last bars of the song were being played, she ran off stage and into the back room.  Her band mate ran after her, but she quickly re-emerged with another guitar.  He thought she'd gotten electrocuted.  She replied, "Being electrocuted would have been much worse."  As for their sound, they seem to be changing it up just a bit.  I was waiting for Sarah to go crazy on stage.  There were those moments, but their sound was just a little bit less frenzy.  It'll be interesting seeing how they transform only the next year.  

Gothic Tropic



Eastern Conference Champions



The Happy Hollows

The Child and Alright Alright at Three Clubs

It was off to Three Clubs to catch The Child and Alright Alright. I walked in and first off said hello to Lauren Rocket. It was then off to the other room to catch the back end of Alright Alright. The band makes use of the trumpet. I always love a band that has a trumpet. The Child, as I've probably mentioned, is now one of my favorite local bands. Interesting how quickly sets finish when you're watching one of your favorite bands. Noticed: IO Echo walked into the house.

Comment from the night: I'm not that kind of girl.

Alright Alright



The Child

JCPenney Story

I'm at JCPenney.  The theft alarm keeps going on with a voice over saying something like this, "Your security tag was not removed.  Please return your item to a service staff so that they can remove the tag."

So I figure the JCPenney staff doesn't know how to take off the security tags or more likely there was either a malfunction or the store was suffering serious theft.

Huffington Post Top 30 2011 Songs: three Los Angeles bands

From the Huffington Post (Kristi York Wooten, 13 December 2011) we have The 30 Best Songs of 2011 .

Three local LA Bands make this top 30 list. 1. Active Child. 9. Foster the People. 13. Group Love. And I have to mention an FYF favorite at 26, Cold Cave.

A Movie Review: The Artist

The Artist. It is a silent movie shot in black and white. Perhaps the only difference between this movie and movies from the 1920s is that there is a soundtrack versus a live band. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent screen movie star. After the premier of one of his movies, he has a chance encounter with Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo). Peppy has the look and soon finds that she is making a career in the movie business. When sound arrives, she really takes off. She is the new face of the new technology. George; however, is placed into retirement. His wife leaves him. He finds himself living in a small apartment. His life is falling apart.

I enjoyed this movie though perhaps not so much as to say it should win best picture. I wish I could read lips better. But don’t worry if you’re as bad as I am. Key dialogue is highlighted just as they were in the 1920s. There are also very interesting themes in the movie. Sometimes great people need to learn to swallow their pride. Sometimes you just shouldn’t write someone off just because times have changed. Sometimes you find out who truly loves you when times are tough.

Penelope Fortier, Correatown and Eliza Rickman at Bootleg

Off to the Bootleg on a rare Sunday night for me. I was there mainly to catch Eliza Rickman. I also saw Penelope Fortier and Correatown.

First off, I was totally thrown off by the fact that there was a different door guy and ticket gal working there. I was momentarily thrown off by that.  You get used to certain people -- maybe the folks I know were off on Sunday night.  (As mentioned, it was a rare Sunday night at the Bootleg for me so perhaps the two working that night are the normal Sunday night crew.)

When I walked in, Penelope Fortier was on the back end of her set.  What I noticed?  She had a wonderful smile and soft, enticing voice.  Correatown was up next: the lead singer with a friend playing along with her.  It was one of those sets where one can sit back and experience Hotel Cafe at the Bootleg.  Speaking of Hotel Cafe.  Eliza Rickman usually plays at Hotel Cafe, but she had us spellbound at the Bootleg on this Sunday night.  She was under the weather and mentioned that she needed to cancel a couple shows that week.  She also mentioned that this was the first time she ever played at the Bootleg and one kind of got the idea that if she was actually scheduled at her normal spot at Hotel Cafe that she might have called in sick.  I've followed Eliza Rickman off and on for the past couple years.  My initial impression was that she was a quirky singer-songwriter who played around on a toy piano.  After this set, my impression is that she is growing into a very cool female singer songwriter.    

Penelope Fortier



Correatown



Eliza Rickman

Derby Dolls 2011 Championship Sirens vs. The Swarm: 132-106

Score

Q1:  38-22 The Swarm
Q2:  61-57 The Swarm
Q3:  90-89  The Swarm
Q4:  132-106 Sirens, Champions

Thoughts

So being from Los Angeles, I was cheering for the Sirens, but I think The Swarm could have won this (or made it a much closer game) if they hadn't lost their jammer Kiki Diazz sometime in the 3rd Quarter.  I wasn't keeping score regarding which jammers were scoring the most points, but in my mind she was causing the damage.  I don't know all the rules of the roller derby, but in my mind when you have a top jammer and she's close to getting ejected, you protect her as much as possible (or tell her to play more conservatively -- like an NBA player on his 5th foul with a quarter to go in the game).  Of course, I wonder if one of their other jammers was injured or sick.  I forget who the jammer was, but after just one jam she seemed winded.  After her second jam, she looked ready to collapse.  So perhaps that hurt their chances, as well.

The Swarm had ejection problems throughout the night.  I think at the end they only had five or six derby dolls left.  Maybe it is their style, play aggressive and see what happens.  They had some tough defense.  Maybe that causes them problems towards the end of the game, defense causing penalties.  

As for the Sirens, who came up with the font for their program photos?  My word.  I initial thought that it was my eyes (old age damaging the ability to read at night).  Now I have the lights on at home while I'm writing this and I still can't read the font.

Anyways, Morning Wood and Raven Seaward led the team to victory.  Morning Wood knows how to skate on the edge.  I swear the only jammer that could compete with those two was Kiki Diazz.

In my mind, it was obvious that the Sirens would win once Kiki Diazz got booted.  Morning Wood and Raven Seaward were just too tough and the other Swarm jammers just couldn't break through the Siren's defense.

Action of the night:  Morning Wood trying to pass the pack, and attempting to do so by doing one crazy 360 move.  It didn't work.  Penalties were initially assessed and then I believe over-turned.  Nuts.  Is there going to be a Whip It II?  That move needs to make the game sequences.

Sabrosa Purr, Useless Keys and Light FM at Silverlake Lounge

I took off to Silverlake Lounge on my normal Monday rotation. I caught Sabrosa Purr, Useless Keys and Light FM. Sabrosa Purr was the main draw for me on this night.  I saw them a few months back at the Bootleg and was eager to see them again.  I arrived a little late and was stuck in the back.  I wanted to take some photos.  A path eventually opened up and I was able to take a few shots.  Useless Keys hit the stage next.  As one mentioned on twitter, the first three bands all had female bass players.  Light FM hit the stage next, the residency band at Silverlake Lounge.  I previously saw them at the Bootleg.  Sara Radle was playing the keys for them.  That made for a nice surprise.

I ran into a couple of young ladies there.  We had a fun conversation.

Sabrosa Purr



Useless Keys



Light FM

Restavrant and Jug Or Nots at One-Eyed Gypsy

Since the Derby Dolls Championship got delayed, it was off to One-Eyed Gypsy to catch Jug Or Nots and Restavrant.  It was my first time seeing Jug or Nots.  Americana.  And next up was Restavrant, a band that I've seen a number of times.  They had the crowd dancing.

Jug or Nots



Restavrant

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

The obelisk.

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

An artwork in MALBA.

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

View of Pasaje Dardo Rocha, taken in La Plata, outside of Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

Tigre.

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

La Boca.

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

Here's a photo of Museo del Cabildo.

Buenos Aires: Photo Series

I recently came back from a Buenos Aires vacation.

View from Casa Rosada.

A Moview Review: Like Crazy

Like Crazy. The opening scene has Anna (Felicity Jones) up front in a college class. She’s presenting her paper that deals with communication/relationships. I have no clue what she’s saying. It is all a muddled pseudo-intellectual talk that you understand when you’re attending the Ivory Towers. And yet there are a couple words that stand out (or maybe I’m just imagining these words): communication, relationships. Those two words represent the backbone of this movie.

You also can’t help but notice in this opening scene that Anna is distracted while she’s standing in front of the class. She’s trying to catch the eye of the student-assistant sitting off to the side, Jacob (Anton Yelchin). She leaves a note on his car windshield, which to me implies that she’s stalked him enough to know where he parks in this vast college campus (I’m just assuming it is meant to be UCLA or USC as the film takes place in Los Angeles and London).

And so starts the first of four relationship cycles. He calls her up and they go out on a coffee date. The conversation is extremely awkward. They warm up to each other and you witness a love that is thrilling. And then this first cycle comes to a close. She’s from the United Kingdom and must return before her student visa expires. They do one last trip to Catalina and knowing that the end is near, Anna grows quiet. This cycle repeats in some degree or another throughout the movie (though the last part of the cycle sometimes turns into bickering versus silence).

Anyone who has watched the trailer understands that she decides to overstay her Visa, deciding not to leave for the UK the day after their Catalina trip. Instead, she sticks around for three more months and leaves (camera highlights a calendar) on an unspecified day in September 2007. Her return to the UK was for a wedding and she quickly tries to return to the US, but is stopped at customs due to her over-staying her student visa and she is returned to the UK.

I wasn’t sure if I should mentioned what comes next, but I read a handful of reviews and the reviewers felt comfortable mentioning the following. When the two are separated, they both have other relationships (affairs). Jacob hooks up with his employee, Sam (Jennifer Lawrence). Anna hooks up with her next door neighbor, Simon (Charlie Bewley).

Their see-other-people relationships results in the following question: is their relationship really just a one sided love affair?

It is Anna who has the least satisfying relationship. There are various scenes between Anna and Simon where tokens of her relationship with Jacob are broken or set aside and you can see her heart breaking. It is understood that Jacob encourages, while Simon controls. It is Anna who has a glow when she is with Jacob versus Simon. It is Anna who reaches out to Jacob.

As it is Anna who has the visa problems, you can’t help but wonder why Jacob doesn’t move to London. Yes, he develops a business designing chairs, but as Anna mentions her parents could help out financially while he set up a similar business in London. And Anna during the third relationship cycle asks, “Can I bring up the topic again of you moving to London?” I felt like his using work as his reason for not moving to London was more of an excuse (therefore the question regarding this love affair). (This movie is a love story so I suspect there is a more complex reason to why Jacob feels he has to stay in Los Angeles, which is addressed off screen or maybe on the editing floor.) Even though Jacob is obviously able to develop a much more satisfying relationship with Sam than Anna with Simon, you can’t help but notice how he drops everything once Anna calls/texts.

My answer is that this is a two way love affair. Others might see it differently.

I might have a handful of issues with the movie such as why is Sam so docile while getting tossed to the side by Jacob (which perhaps speaks more to her personality), but my problems are minor and from beginning to end this movie found my heart. Here’s hoping it finds a large audience.

House cleaning:

I suspect the movie spans four years though I glanced through one review which quoted seven. The difference might be that I’m assuming they met as seniors while the reviewer I read probably believes they met as freshman.

I suspect that both Anna and Jacob come from upper-middle income families.

How is it that LAX and Heathrow are so void of people when the two of them are at these two airports?

I love how the movie has the two characters switching from cell phones to smart phones. It is a reminder that time is passing.

A Movie Review: Happy Feet 2

Happy Feet 2. An earthquake causes the penguins’ living location to sink in the ground. Since they can’t fly, it means they will die from starvation unless a way out is found. Animals and humans try their best to save the penguins.

For what it is, this movie isn’t bad; however, I suspect it is meant for those twelve and under. I went with some kids and they seemed to enjoy it. For me, I couldn't help but think it was a Ice Age sequel of some sort.

Summer Series 2011: Delayed, but Golden

So this was supposed to go up on Intraffik.com, but sometimes things don't work out as planned.  Instead of having this just gather dust, I figured I'd post it here.

Summer Series:

The Favorites

Is there a better way to start off a summer music post than to mention one of your favorite local bands? Nope. It was off to On the Roxy to catch The Mulhollands. After finding my free parking spot (in past columns, I’ve provided locations for free parking, but it was suggested that for the Sunset Strip I should just keep my mouth shut), I walked up the stairs to On the Roxy and caught part of an acoustic set by Diana Gone Wrong’s lead singer. I hadn’t seen her band in almost two years, but I remembered exactly where I’d caught them: Skinny’s in North Hollywood. Sometimes my memory serves me well. Also there that night was Celeste from Underwater City People. She joined in on a song for the acoustic duo of Donato McDermott and Everett Connors. The crowd inside On the Roxy started to build up as the countdown to The Mulhollands set began. They didn’t disappoint as they gave us a fun set, which include singing atop the bar counter. Well, maybe I should take that “disappoint” word back. There was a demand for two more songs, but they just gave us one. The night was put on by Bohemian Basement. Bohemian Basement. On the Rox. Down. Up. Nevermind, my own word play.

Diana Gone Wrong



Everette Connors and Donato McDermott (w/ special guest from Celeste Kim)






The Mulhollands



A couple days later it was off to The Satellite to catch The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year. I’ve followed The Mulhollands for awhile, but it was just last year that I caught up with these two bands and their Americana inspiration. The one thing I’ve noticed about The Lonely Wild (or maybe it is just my imagination) is that their sets are either of two contrasting sounds: sometimes they let the melody linger and other times they’re just rocking out. On this night, they let the melody linger. Family of the Year closed out the night with a set that had the crowd cheering at the end.

The Lonely Wild




Family of the Year



It was off to Harvard and Stone to catch a band called The Child. The keyboardist is Lauren Rocket of Rocket fame. She was dressed in black versus her more colorful style as a Rocket. They gave us a quick six song set. A man standing next to me made sure I knew that it was Lauren Rocket that I was photographing. I learned that he is Brad Elterman, a photographer who photographed The Runaways, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and many others. After The Child, I stuck around for Papercranes. It was their Tuesday night residency at Harvard and Stone. My how-things-can-happen-around-me-while-I’m-taking-photos story: The lead singer left the stage and maneuvered her way through the crowd. I felt it was a perfect time to catch some photos of the rest of the band. Before I knew it, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she was above us, singing from a steel platform that hangs from the ceiling. I took a few more photos of the band and once again before I knew it she had slid down a pole and was back on the stage.

The Child




Papercranes



Four Straight Days

On a Saturday night it was off to see 10,000 Maniacs at Pershing Square. I think there was one person who thought the lead singer was Natalie Merchant or maybe he was just being a jerk and his yelling out, “Natalie Merchant”, was meant to imply that 10,000 Maniacs wasn’t the same without Merchant. I did not care that Merchant had long ago left the band as I still loved their set. As for the lead singer, “I’ve been with 10,000 Maniacs for awhile. In fact, I was a backup singer when Natalie Merchant was around. If you look at the cover of the MTV Unplugged CD, I’m the blurry girl in the background.” Sunday I hung out with some friends at Pasadena Levitt Pavilion where The Belle Brigade was holding court. First up was an unexpected addition to the night, Little Hurricane, a two piece band that gave us a rocking start to the night. As for Belle Brigade, this is probably a set they will want to forget or possibly laugh about later when time heals. They let everyone know immediately that they were down a guitarist. They had gone out to eat and afterwards their guitarist came down with a severe migraine. Then I began to notice that Barbara wasn’t as active as she normally is (from seeing them at Satellite). For their final song “Losers” I saw her run off stage in the middle of the song, leaving her brother to finish up. After the band left the stage, a demand was made for an encore. The MC went to get them, but then came back out to announce that unfortunately, Belle Brigade wouldn’t be able to continue due to Barbara coming down with food poisoning. Too much MSG was used by that restaurant, I say. Monday it was off to The Bootleg to catch Robert Francis. His sister used to be part of the Kiss or Kill Club scene (I was late to the Kiss or Kill scene, so this is based on outside input). It was actually an interesting combination of music genres that night. The night opened up with Taylor Locke, a singer songwriter. Up second was Boots Electric, a solid rock band with a lead singer who gives off the aura of presiding over an evil religious revival meeting. There was some discussion regarding the age of the lead singer’s girlfriend, bassist. My friend insisted that she heard she was only 15. I insisted that I heard they met when she was 15 in Mexico City. In the audience for Boots Electric, I saw Barb Wire Dolls who usually play the Sunset Strip. Robert Francis closed out the night, a singer-songwriter. This interesting switch of genres also resulted in a near complete change over in the audience in between the sets of Boots Electric and Raining Jane. He gave us an hour and 20 minute set and his sister joined for a handful of songs. To end the streak of four days, I hung out with our Intraffik editor at Hotel Café to catch Raining Jane. I came across this band due to my following of Lucy Schwartz. I soon learned that various members from this band play backup for Lucy Schwartz. I have to say that this band definitely isn’t just some backup band for Lucy Schwartz. They gave us a lovely set though perhaps with violent overtones, “Buy our record or I’ll hit you in the throat.”

And since I mentioned Lucy Schwartz so much in the above paragraph, I may as well note that I headed off to the Bronson Caves on September 11th to catch her with The Heartstrings (a string quartet named no doubt after a line in her song, ‘Take a Picture’). This was my first time ever at the Bronson Caves. I’ve hung out within yards of these caves and never even knew the caves were there. Along with perhaps 75 other individuals, I got to listen to a wonderful 45 minute set.

10,000 Maniacs



Little Hurricane



The Belle Brigade





Taylor Locke




Boots Electric




Robert Francis




Raining Jane



Lucy Schwartz




Summer Ends with Tradition and a New Addition

This is my third summer post. Each time I’ve mentioned Aaron Beaumont. Do you think I would do a third post and miss this tradition? Aaron Beaumont has now joined forces with Emma Fitzpatrick to form the band The Mots Nouveaux – yeah, admittedly a bit complicated to pronounce if you are clueless about the French language (count me as one of them). It was off to Hotel Café to catch their set. There is still the 1920s influence, but with Emma’s vocals there is an added element of reflective poetry.



Laura Vall ends this summer series. A friend handed me a flier about a CD release party for someone named Laura Vall. It was being held at a place called Revival, which is all the way out in Venice. Hmm . . . that’s far, was the first thought to come to mind. I decided to go, however. And since I am one of the few folks in Los Angeles without a smart phone, I actually got lost a couple times trying to find the place. I did make it with plenty of time to spare. What a beautiful set. As a gift for attending the release party, everyone received a CD. I’ve listened to that CD a number of times in the past couple weeks.

A Movie Review: 50/50

50/50. A young man who lives a healthy lifestyle, Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), finds out that he has a rare form of cancer and that his chances of survival are 50-50. We follow him through his cancer treatment and how his relationships are impacts. We see him growing closer to his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), falling apart from his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), and dealing with parent-child complications with his mother (Anjelica Huston). And, of course, one has to mention his psychologist Katherine (Anna Kendrick).

This is a movie that deals with the struggles of unexpected hardship (meaning I think folks can relate to this movie even if they haven’t dealt with cancer). This movie has a comedic bent to it and walks the delicate dramady combination well.

And note on Bryce Dallas Howard who has this gift recently of playing heartless characters.

A Movie Review: Moneyball

Moneyball. If you read my blog regularly, you'll notice I write occasionally about basketball and football, but never baseball.  The reason is that I'm not really into baseball.  But this movie had some pedigree.  The movie was based on a Michael Lewis book.  I've actually never read a Michael Lewis book, but he did write books that I am aware of:  The Big Short, Blindside, Liar's Poker.  And this movie stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.  It was also well reviewed.  And I got the impression the movie was about more than baseball; a movie about the implementation of a change in philosophy.

I'm not sure this movie deserves a best picture nod as some seem to be saying, but I definitely enjoyed it.  It is a movie about a General Manager of the Oakland A's deciding that he had to switch things up in order to keep up with money teams such as New York and Boston.  Sometimes you just have to think differently and sometimes thinking differently is actually the right way to go.

A Movie Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene. So maybe I should have paid more attention while watching this movie, because I obviously missed out on something. We have Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) who is given a nickname Marcy May by cult leader Patrick (John Hawkes), but where did the Marlene come into play?

The movie starts with Martha at cult's compound. She soon escapes to her family: her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), and brother-in-law, Ted (Hugh Dancy).  Her time with the cult causes a type of post traumatic stress disorder.  She fears that Patrick will go searching for her and she finds it hard to re-integrate into normal society.  Through flash-backs we find that her time at the cult initially started with sexual brainwashing but quickly spiraled into criminal behavior.

I am up in the air with this movie.  I loved the pacing of the movie, but some things just got me irritated.  For example, though her sister and brother-in-law in my mind want to help Martha (yes, they get frustrated, but wouldn't anyone get frustrated with the erratic behavior of a loved one), they for some reason seem hesitant to ask her deeper questions about her two year disappearance.  I don't even think they realize that she was in a cult for two years.  They seem to just accept the fact that she was in a bad relationship.  Of course, maybe when you haven't seen someone for two years, you're hesitant to ask the deeper questions.

Also, I didn't pay close enough attention to when the name Marlene came into play.  Maybe if I did the movie would make more sense.  Somehow I suspect the last few scenes would have played out better.  I'll have to catch this movie on the Sundance channel some day and re-review this movie.

 

Pu$$y Cow and French Exit playing Redwood Bar

Pu$$y Cow. Lead singer, Joe, pushed his way through the crowd a couple times. A comment was made that the men in the audience should show their bro-tatoes -- you needed to be there.

French Exit. This was my second time seeing them. I'm happy I saw them a second time. After their first song, I was thrilled that I'd stuck around to see them.

Pu$$y Cow



French Exit