Kissing Cousins, Rumspringa and We Barbarians at Spaceland

I walked into Spaceland and caught the last song of Kissing Cousins. I immediately wished I’d shown up a little earlier. The next band up was Rumspringa. One of the band members played their set in socks. Another in honor of being at Spaceland, made a handful of space alien jokes. A guy was right up front with a Viking hat. For some reason, I felt this was more appropriate for the residency band, We Barbarians, but he seemed to disappear before We Barbarians came on stage (or he got rid of the hat). What was nice about that night was that Spaceland was packed for both Kissing Cousins and Rumspringa. My general feeling is that the place usually isn't packed for the first band – and I have to admit that I generally skip the first band, as well. We Barbarians were the June residency band. I finally made it out to their last show. They had at least one huge fan in the audience. She had a poster of the band and it looked like she'd gotten all to sign it for her expect for one band member who she got to sign it right before the set. The band seemed to be having issues with the bass drum inching forward too much after each song, the drummer slamming the kick too hard.

Kissing Cousins





Rumspringa











We Barbarians

Pu$$y Cow, Madison Bloodbath and Dan Padilla in Highland Park

Pu$$y Cow, Madison Bloodbath and Dan Padilla. Now that's a line-up.

To start the night off, Chissum made sure that everyone knew where the boundary was between the band and the audience. Joe told him not to scare everyone, but I think he did scare folks because the audience did keep to that imaginary line. After some encouragement from Joe, the line eventually blurred. An old school desk was brought out for some reason and a handful of folks took turns sitting in it.

Madison Bloodbath was up next. This was just a crazy set. You couldn't even tell there was a distinction between the audience and the band. Half the folks in the audience seemed to be in the "personal" space of the band. It was a thirty minute set of energy in a bottle.

Dan Padilla was the last band of the night, a band coming in from San Diego. I was told by some random guy I ran into that this was the band to catch. He mentioned that if they were playing in San Diego, the place would be packed. So I had some high expectations. I loved the whole set.














Madison Bloodbath







Dan Padilla

The Cigarette Bums, High Life Cavaliers and The Mo-odds at Blue Star

It was off to Blue Star to catch The Mo-odds, High Life Cavaliers and The Cigarette Bums. I have to say I was amazed by High Life Cavaliers. The bassist brought his A-game to the night; one just had to keep an eye on him the whole time, because he was just a constant blur of movement. The Mo-odds were fun, as well. They were the main attraction of the night. Folks were just sitting down and a request was made for folks to come stand closer to the band. As for the Cigarette Bums, I over-heard that it was their second show of the day. A hard working band.


Cigarette Bums



High Life Cavaliers









The Mo-odds

Lakers Parade 2010!!!

It was off to the Lakers Parade 2010. First off, I have to admit this probably ranks worse of the four celebrations I attended. It was driven by two things. First, I had high expectations. I thought the buses were going to stop and there were going to be interviews along the way -- at least that is how I read the LA Times article posted over the weekend. There were interviews, but apparently for television, not the folks along the parade route (at least, where I was standing -- I noticed Kobe being interviewed as his bus passed on by). Second, I was on the wrong side of the street, because I think most of the starters were on the other side of the bus.

Before heading off to the parade route, I turned on KTTV/1070 AM and learned that there weren't any portable bathrooms along the route. Some guy was offering his bathroom for $5. That stopped the water drinking and my using of a toilet before getting onto the Red Line. I got onto the Red Line at around 9:30 a.m. It was packed with fans.

I got to the Staples Center and was met with the following crowd.




With more folks exiting from the Blue Line.



I decided to walk south and ended up around here. Note: The nearest police officer was rather cool. Talking with the fans. It was almost likely zooming back in time, a neighborhood cop that you now only see in old 1930s movies.

Though I found one thing interesting regarding the police and fans. A police officer was coming around with a video camera, filming the audience. The audience would cheer like crazy. I was like, why would you do that, you know they're filming us to use as potential evidence should anything illegal happen.



Fisher for President and a Kobe is better than Shaq posters.



Kobe/Championship Banner.



First sight of buses.



Cheerleaders.



Cheerleaders.



Cheerleader.



Trophy.



Magic -- a bit blurry, because the bus train was going pass so quickly, sorry for being a bit irritated with that.



AC Green.



Kareem.



And the bus passing.



I have to say that even though I don't give the parade a big thumbs up, there is something about just being along the parade route. It is one of those city events that I think everyone should attend sometime in their life. This is Los Angeles. All the cultures (admittedly, a younger age demographic) and doing so peacefully.

And the folks I was near, we actually had some small talk. A guy walked by with a Celtics banner crossed out and I attempted to take a photo of it along with another guy. He turned to me and asked, "Did you get that." I replied, "No, all blurry." And at the end, I was asked to take a photo of his group of friends.

A reporter surrounded.




Tattoo: A guy with a crossed out LAPD on his head and a line that read, "My mind plays tricks on man."


See LA Times article for some additional thoughts on the parade.

The Mulhollands and The Shakers at Fox and Hounds

It was off to see The Mulhollands and The Shakers at Fox and Hounds on a Saturday Night. I was worried I might miss one of the two bands. I got delayed in my return from the Make Music Pasadena -- a story I'll get into more should I get around to writing an article on the Pasadena night for intraffik.

The Shakers showed their "Villain" video, a premier. I was very impressed. I wonder how long it took to film the video.

Below are a handful of photos from the night.

The Mulhollands






The Shakers