Francisco the Man and LA Font at Satellite

It was a good night to head off to Satellite with LA Font backing residency band Francisco the Man. LA Font is described as a garage band.  They gave a 30 minute set with the lead singer hitting notes with precision.  Then came Francisco the Man, which has a more laid back attitude.  The sounds are meant to linger and the words are meant for you to think.

LA Font

Francisco the Man

The Child at El Cid

It was off to El Cid to catch The Child. Along the way, I ran into my friend Jodie, from The Shakers.  Hey, this was going to be a good night.

Interestingly, this was my third weekday night out last week (Monday at Bootleg, Wednesday at The Roxy).  I blog on music, but I do try to limit how many times I go out each week.  It isn't exactly easy to head off to bed after midnight and then go to work the next day.  And on this topic, I had two different conversations with friends where I said that I have recently tried to limit my weekday outings to only once or twice a week.  Of course, this past week was so filled with solid bands that I had to break that self-limiting pledge. 

The Child had a solid crowd at El Cid and responded with a solid set though folks tended to stay away from the front of the stage even though both Lauren and Holly asked for folks to come closer.   I don't know what's up with their friends.

Maybe I'm making this up, but does the individual in the below photo (Holly) look just a tad like Keira Knightley?

honeyhoney, Shana Halligan and Monsters Calling Home at The Roxy

It was off to The Roxy to catch Shana Halligan, Monsters Calling Home and honeyhoney.

I got a last minute text from a friend about my interest in heading off to see honeyhoney at The Roxy. It wasn’t a very difficult decision to make. I was there.

First up was Shana Halligan. Her set had a tinge of jazz inspiration. She had a back-up band for this set though she mentioned that she usually has a more electronic sound.

Monsters Calling Home filled the second spot. They have a Silver Lake/Echo Park sound and so I’m sure I’ll run across them one of these days soon at The Satellite or Bootleg.

To close out the night was honeyhoney giving us a near one hour set. Cutest moments of the night: a father brought his two daughters along and they were perhaps the biggest cheerleaders during the last two songs. Honeyhoney did run into banjo technical issues, but it didn’t matter.   We, the fans, love them no matter what.  An encore was demanded and provided.

I usually bring my DSLR to shows, but Roxy does require you to get permission from a band. Due to the short notice, I just brought along my point and shoot versus trying to contact a band. I will eventually post "poorer" than normal quality photos, but currently my Internet connection at home is down.

Update with my point and shoot camera:

Shana Halligan


Monsters Calling Home


honeyhoney


And honeyhoney comment of the night:  We're dealing with a slight banjo casualty.

A Movie Review: Ted

Ted.   John Bennett (Mark Wahlbert) grows up with no friends.  Even the Jewish kid who is getting beat up tells John Bennett to go away.  His parents give him a teddy bear for Christmas.  He makes a wish and would you know, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) his bear, comes to life.  Years past and Ted and John are still best friends who waste their time smoking pot.  Somehow John has the hottest girlfriend, Lori Collins (Mila Kunis), who works as a vice president at a PR firm.  Now why exactly does a woman who has two amazing advantages in life (she's beautiful and has a great job) live with a boyfriend who:  is always smoking weed (I could be wrong, but Lori does not smoke weed in the movie), makes perhaps $20,000 a year and has his best friend living with them?  I have no clue, but who cares, this movie will have you laughing. And there are also awesome bit roles played by the likes of Norah Johes, Tom Skerritt and Sam J. Jones.

Army Navy, Tribes and Meg Myers at Bootleg

It was off to the Bootleg to catch Army Navy, Tribes and Meg Myers. I only caught a portion of Army Navy.  Loved the songs I heard.  I ran into a fellow photographer who was there only to shot Army Navy.  I was actually:  hey, why aren't you staying for the other bands.  One reason I was thinking that is because Tribes was in town from the UK.  How often are you going to have a chance to catch them?  (I'm not saying you should go to every show that features an out of town band, I'm just saying if you're at a venue and they're playing at the reasonable hour of 10 p.m. . . . )  They gave a solid set and then Meg Myers went on stage, the residency singer:  deep Southern vocals. 

Army Navy



Tribes



Meg Myers

Dudes Night, Pu$$y Cow, Young Turks and Red City Radio at Blue Star

It was a night away from my normal Silver Lake/Echo Park music grounds to catch Dudes Night, Pu$$y Cow, Young Turks and Red City Radio.  One key note is that this was the first show for Tu$hy-Hor$e (Pu$$y Cow) in around seven months. All these bands put on stage shows that you seldom see at a Silver Lake/Echo Park venue (I love the music, but let's be honest . . . . Grouplove excluded from this brief commentary as they definitely know how to put on a show).  Young Turks shined on that score.  Red City Radio came in from Oklahoma.  Were they cheering on Kevin Durant during the Olympics?  Dudes Night is a regular out in VLHS, Pomona -- a place that has to be considered one of the great DIY locations in SoCal. 

Dudes Night



Pu$$y Cow

Young Turks

Red City Radio

The Deep Sea Goes and East of the River at Silverlake Lounge

It was off to Silverlake Lounge to catch The Deepsea Goes and East of the River.  I say this was a night of length of time.  The Deepsea Goes is a two piece band that speeds through their songs and also sped through their set.  I'm sure they only played twenty minutes.  East of the River slowed it down just slightly in terms of music, but they started their set about 5 minutes early and then nearly stopped after 20 minutes.  Luckily, the sound guy told them they could keep on going.  They played another 4 songs.

Though both bands didn't seem to want to play their full 30 minute allotment, it was still a great night of music.

The Deepsea Goes

East of the River

Time Magazine highlights 3 Los Angeles bands

From Time Magazine ((Melissa Locker, 6 August 2012, 11 Great Bands You Don’t Know (But Should)), we have three Los Angeles bands highlighted:  NO, Haim, Hands.

Awesome cool.

Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles

I got the privileged to do some photography for the Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles. If you want to take a look, head on over to their Facebook page. The photos were posted July 28th, 2012 (wall).  Or head on over to their photo section and click through the Summer Camp 2012 - Showcase album.

Garland and The Short Eyes at Silverlake Lounge

It was off to that under-rated music venue, Silverlake Lounge, to catch Garland and The Short Eyes. We started out with some melody driven rock by Garland and then shifted to some sped up rock via The Short Eyes.

Comment of the night by Garland: Even if you don't like us, hopefully we entertained you.

Comments of the night by The Short Eyes: Drummer, we're from San Diego so this is like our back yard.  Lead, just like having a BBQ.

Garland



The Short Eyes