As mentioned in a prior blog post, I notice via a Gracie Gray Instagram Story that Mini Trees was going to play a short set on the ArtCenter College of Design rooftop (curated by the Altadena Seed Library) during the Printed Matter Art Book Fair. A number of singer-songwriters performed throughout the day. I saw only four of those performers. The last performer was Georgia Maq (aka Georgia McDonald).
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| Georgia Maq at the Art Center College of Design |
Creatrix Jem Presents put on a jazz night at Club Tee Gee that featured Will Brahm celebrating his Distance to Empty album release. Opening up the night was the Jake Leckie Trio. Brahm mention that musicians shouldn't have more than three one word song titles in their setlist. I counted five such song titles on the 1 hour and twenty minute set. I guess a cardinal rule was broken, but I don't think the audience cared about that particular rule. The venue was packed with people who got to enjoy jazz as well as mini cupcakes that Brahm brought to celebrate the record release as well as his birthday. As I was leaving for the night, I grabbed one.
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| Will Brahm at Club Tee Gee |
I took off to Zebulon on Memorial day to catch Hysteria (you can read my Hysteria NFV Song Spotlight here). Now I didn't want to head out for the full four band line-up. I've mentioned this in past blog posts, but I'm trying to put a quota on the numbers of nights I go out each week. I was partially successful at this during the early part of the year, but April onwards has fallen apart. I'm just too addicted. After listening to Hysteria's single that they were celebrating, I decided I was heading out even though I knew it would bust my quota for the week (already knew I wanted to head out on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday). But it is a holiday Monday, I rationalized. I knew the approximate start time for Hysteria (they were the last band up), but decided I should at least see two bands.
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| The Opera at Zebulon |
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| Jia Pet at the Lodge Room |
A Handful (Bucketful) of Show Alerts
Sunday, Jun 22nd: Night Talks at The Paramount. Doors at 7 p.m.I first came across SASAMI in January 2019 at The Echo.
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| SASAMI at the Lodge Room |
There's a little fun music history involved in that.
First, The Echo used to have FOMO week. The first week of January would be dedicated to free shows at The Echo. Like any year during that music era, the week was packed with top notch local bands (you can see a schedule here). Here are some awesome performers:
Hysteria fronted by Dakota Cosgrove took to the Zebulon for only their second set ever. The set was to celebrate their "Reason to Pray" single release. I wasn't planning on heading out on Memorial Day. I was going to stay home and watch an old war movie (Where Eagles Dare), because of . . . well . . . Memorial Day. I did watch that movie at a later date. Was it a good idea to head out to Zebulon on this night? It definitely was.
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| Hysteria at Zebulon |
I went off to a Ryan Pollie presents night at The Fable mainly to catch Swimming Bell. I'd seen Swimming Bell back in 2022 and figured I'd catch another set. If I were more real life work focused, I probably should have been tapping away at my computer instead of heading out to The Fable. The company I work for is going through system upgrades and people who send out reports are sending the reports out much later than normal and the reports are filled with errors. It will all get resolved eventually, but there's always that rough patch where sometimes you just got to put in the extra effort to deal with all. Well, I was like screw it, it is 8 p.m., I'm heading out to catch some live music. I should note that I don't always prioritize music over work. I often pass on various assignments for US Rocker Music due to real life work. Don't worry, I'm not trying to drive myself into unemployment due to my love of the LA music scene, but I do try to walk that fine line.
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| MacGregor Burns at The Fable |
On Julez and the Rollerz's Instagram account, they announced that they were "playing a short and sweet set" at Permanent Records Roadhouse. Before heading out, that announcement was a bit of a disappointment for me. This was the first time I was going to catch the band in about a year and they were going to play a shortened set? Then I got to the venue and saw that they were playing a 9 song set. Hmm, that seemed like a normal number of songs to play during a set. Also, my estimate is that their set clocked in at the 30 minute mark. That to me is your standard set length in the LA music scene so I feel like I got more than anticipated of their 60s retro rock. I suppose that is called under-promising and over-delivering?
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| Julez and the Rollerz at Permanent Records Roadhouse |
The Audrey Lisette Band Instagram page describes their music as "genre fluid band." The Spotify bio says that their music mixes jazz, rock, and blues. The band's WFNM night at Hotel Ziggy definitely aligned and expanded on that description. The set opened up with "Love Again" that featured her deep vocals and 70s rock chops. The song has addictive climatic moments that resolve in repeat fashion. The song ended with a lengthy and enjoyable riff.
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| Audrey Lisette Band at Hotel Ziggy |
A Handful of Show Alerts
Sunday, Jun 15th: El Colmo at Alex's Bar. Doors at 2 p.m.I first came across Swimming Bell, the moniker for Katie Schottland, in late November 2022. I was off to Permanent Records Roadhouse to catch an Emily Rose & the Rounders set and Swimming Bell was the opening band for me (I say opening for me as I missed Selland & Starr set -- I believe this was the night I was expecting Selland & Starr to come on after Emily Rose and was hanging out around the stage while the Permanent Records crew was breaking down equipment and I finally realized I missed their set). I learned at the time via one of my Q&A interviews that Schottland is a New York native and had moved to Los Angeles a couple years back. Since that was 2022, I'd say she's an adjusted Los Angeleno (or maybe not).
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| Swimming Bell at The Fable |
Ferry Townes, the moniker for Julia Gargano, walked up to the Hotel Ziggy microphone during a WFNM night with a smile and an enthusiasm for her music that was shared by the audience. It didn't take long for someone to yell out, "So f*cking awesome." Her response, "Thank you, dude."
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| Ferry Townes at Hotel Ziggy |
Seko was the first band up during Pretty But Wicked's night at Zebulon. I was impressed as soon as the first notes were played of their opening song "Say Hi To The Son." While writing this blog post, I had to do some research on the band (I had never heard of them before). To be honest, my first observation was that their band name is very similar to the long time Los Angeles band Sego.
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| Seko at Zebulon |
Jagged Baptist Club took to the Permanent Records Roadhouse stage, yelling out "Los Angeles!!!" The band is fronted by Blake Stokes who has to rank as one of the more engaging lead singers of the Los Angeles music scene. He gave his audience a complement after their first song of the night, "Now ladies and gentlemen of Los Angeles, California, I have to tell you something . . . I'm already impressed. We were playing eleven shows in England. And they were very good at clapping. And in the past, you Americans have not been very good at clapping. But guess what, you're very good at clapping." He then called out someone who had stopped clapping to the beat set by their drummer Morgan Ponder.
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| Jagged Baptist Club at Permanent Records Roadhouse |
Memo PST brought the punk to Zebulon. One has to give it up to Secret Fires who booked a great night of music. The night did belong to the headliners Gustaf, but Memo PST was not to be ignored. The band "was formed in 2022 by longtime associates Orville Neeley and Chris Shaw." Neeley takes the electric guitar duties while Shaw handles the vocals and front man responsibilities.
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| Memo PST at Zebulon |
A Handful of Show Alerts
Sunday, Jun 8th: Dagger Polyester at Zebulon. Doors at 7 p.m.I've been wanting to catch up with Paper Citizen for a few months now. The band is the brainchild of Singaporean Claire Gohst. I had previously circled a date at The Escondite in January, but the night got cancelled due to the Los Angeles fires. Fast forward three months and I noticed that she was playing another show at The Escondite. This time, there was no interference to my getting to catch a set other than a rather bad accident on the southbound 2 freeway, which resulted in a less than 30 minute trip turning into a 1 hour torture drive.
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| Paper Citizen at The Escondite |
I first came across Mini Trees (the moniker for Lexi Vega) at the 2019 Echo Park Rising festival. If you so wish, you can find a photo I took here on a Buzzband's photo gallery from the festival. I only caught a song or two. That's just how it is when you're running and gunning for a blog site. The band played at Trencher. Trencher was a restaurant (since closed) and I remember people coming in and out to pick up or order food throughout the time I was there.
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| Mini Trees at the Art Center College of Design |
It was off to Hotel Cafe on a Wednesday night to cover a Lisa Crawley single release party for her song "What You Can Do." I wrote up an article for US Rocker Music with a Q&A that you can read here. The night included the opening duo of Jeffertitti and Chloe Kat. This was my first time seeing Chloe Kat on stage (I believe, always possible I've seen her as part of a backing band) though I'm rather sure I've seen her around town. As for Jeffertitti Moon, well, what long time Los Angeles music fan hasn't crossed paths with Jeffertitti?
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| Jeffertitti and Chloe Kat at Hotel Cafe |
Jameson Tabor recently played the WFNM at Bar Lubitsch with keyboard support from Elise Go. He had a million dollar smile and a dance performance that was no doubt influenced by his musical acting background. His engaging performance had the crowd chanting UFO with him during the song "UFO." UFO is the acronym for Unexplored Feelings of Obsession. With arms outstretched, he provided the early crowd with a warm singing embrace to start the night off on a positive note.
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| Jameson Tabor at Bar Lubitsch |
I first came across Madam Bombs at The Redwood Bar in 2022 when they played alongside Speed of Light and The Pumps. At the time, I was unfamiliar with the band. I had gone there specifically to catch Speed of Light and The Pumps. Speed of Light used play in the short lived, but memorable DIY punk scene Bands In A Barbershop. I was familiar with The Pumps via Rio Infante who played in the band Strawberry Army.
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| Madam Bombs at The Escondite |
