notes from vivace

I was out of town for ten weeks due to work.  I did return on the weekends so I got to catch the occasional weekend music festival, but this...

Gone Girl . Nick Dunne (Ben Afflect) leaves his house and heads to a bar that he co-manages with his sister, Margo Dunne (Carrie Coon). Th...

The Skeleton Twins. Maggie (Kristen Wiig) and Milo (Bill Hader) are twins. They’re known as the Skeleton Twins, driven by the fact that t...

Flashlights .  I only caught the last couple songs.  As usually happens when I show up in the middle of a set, I ended up thinking:  I wish ...

PAWS . They like things intimate, which worked perfectly in a location like The Crepe Place.  The crowd was pressed close, they themselves ...

Total Slacker.  This past week marked five workweeks in the Santa Cruz area.  It took awhile, but I finally went out to explore the Santa Cr...

Cream of the Crop -- Maybe even Oscar worthy. Edge of Tomorrow Begin Again Boyhood A Most Wanted Man Solid -- They'll make you l...

Lucy . Lucy starts her day in Taiwan with a bit of bad luck. A "friend" wants her to enter a hotel to deliver a briefcase. The ...

The Moth and the Flame. A tinge of the psychedelic presented by a band that looks like it would be very comfortable at a truck stop. Inte...

Dwntwn . I can't get enough of this band. And that applies to a lot of folks. At Tarfest, this band was the largest draw. And with a...

Tapioca and the Flea. A group of friends were in the audience for this band.  In fact, from different circles that perhaps interact via Tw...

The Dead Ships. As the Los Angeles temperatures peaked, The Dead Ships took the stage with elevated vocals and stage intensity.

A Most Wanted Man . Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) has illegally entered into Germany.  There is fear that he is a terrorist. Günther Bach...