The Lonely Wild and Insects vs. Robots at Dragonfly

It was off to Dragonfly to catch The Lonely Wild. While there I caught Insects vs. Robots. What I learned pretty quickly about Insects vs. Robots is that the guitar player is a contortionist. Flexibility. I did enjoy their set. The band is almost more like a jam session band with the music over-riding the vocals. But when the vocals do arrive, the primal haunts drive you wild. During their last song, they had folks in a trance on the dance floor.

After Insects vs. Robots it was off to the side room to catch The Lonely Wild, which started almost immediately after Insects vs. Robots ended their set. I love The Lonely Wild, but it was hard to initially get into their set. In the main room, the DJ was playing the hits and the intersection of the two sounds was irritating. Also, I was sitting next to a drum set and the snare drum kept on vibrating throughout the set. However, by the middle of their set I was able to put this all to the side and just concentrate on the music. Awe, there last few songs were divine.

Insects vs. Robots









The Lonely Wild

Nightmare and the Cat at Spaceland

It was off to Spaceland to see Nightmare and the Cat. I caught one song of Nightmare and the Cat at the Bootleg a week earlier and decided there that I wanted to catch a full set.

Noticed: Lead singer hanging out with some friends and then jumping onto stage as the band started their set.

Noticed 2: A nice crowd was out.

I wasn't able to catch the earlier bands. Something called work unfortunately got in the way.

For some reason, I keep on saying Nightmare and the Bat. Cat equals nightmare, not so much. Bat and nightmares, more likely.

A Movie Review: The Town

The Town. I have to say I really enjoyed this movie. This is a rather standard crime story with few twists and yet it just happened to hold my attention. I wouldn’t say this movie has much suspense to it. You sort of know what is going to happen. I suppose there are only two issues of suspense. First, will the girlfriend (Claire) turn in her bank robber boyfriend (Doug)? Second, will the gang of robbers pull off the final big heist? On the other hand, there are some cool chase scenes and gun battles.

My one issue here (SPOILERS) is the relationship between Claire and Doug. Claire eventually finds out that Doug in the individual who robbed her bank. He’s also the individual who kidnapped her. Now Claire does have this initial negative reaction to the news, but she obviously reconciles herself to this. Now considering that the end of the movie has a major gun battle . . . ah, Claire, your bad guy boyfriend really is a bad guy even if he does want to escape his current state in life.

Abe Vigoda and Cold Cave

A secret show with Abe Vigoda and Cold Cave. This show will probably find its way to Intraffik.com so just photos for now.

Abe Vigoda

Cold Cave

The Hounds Below at Bootleg

It was off to the Bootleg to catch The Hounds Below from Detroit. A friend suggested checking them out. First impression, lead singer brings the Roy Orbison to his music. Being on tour, I suspect they were a little lost in terms of the calendar. The lead singer said, "So how you all doing on a Thursday night? Thursdays are the start of the weekend out here in Los Angeles, right?" The audience had a laugh, "It's Wednesday."

Note about the Bootleg. The door girl is always friendly. Extra bonus points with that.

The Mo-odds, Restavrant, High Life Cavaliers, Hello My Name Is Red and Don Juan Y Los Blancos

What a crazy weekend of music. Friday night hanging out at Echo Curio. Saturday night hanging out just east of Downtown to catch some great bands: High Life Cavaliers, Hello My Name Is Red, Don Juan Y Los Blancos, Restavrant and The Mo-odds in the U-Haul show. And just to note: I missed Health Club. I was off at Pershing Square catching Autumn Nights and so missed out on their set.

The night was hosted by The Mo-odds. The first band that I caught was High Life Cavaliers. There was some high praise for them afterward. I was happy to hear that as I was just blown away by their set when I first heard them over at Blue Star. Hello My Name Is Red and Don Juan Y Los Blancos came up next. Don Juan Y Los Blancos had folks dancing and reminded folks that red dresses are hot. The Mo-odds had everyone going nuts. Folks formed a mosh pit in the rather tight confines. Joe from Pu$$y Cow was there to give a piggy back ride. And Restavrant closed out the night with a cool accustic set (I don't know if this was due to the electric generator running low).

Concern of the night: Someone voiced concern to me that at some point in the night someone would fall out of the back of the U-Haul. It didn't happen though the two of us did notice one person who nearly tripped on his way out.

Comment of the night: We're here with three-quarters of the Mo-odds.

High Life Cavaliers



Hello My Name Is Red






Don Juan Y Los Blancos

The Mo-odds

Restavrant

The Shakers, Mad Planet and The Swagger Sticks at Echo Curio

It was off to Echo Curio to catch The Swagger Sticks, The Shakers and Mad Planet. In between, I stopped off at Ballard's Artwork Framing to see a photo exhibit displaying the work of some of our local music photographers.

The Swagger Sticks have a new band mate. As you can see in the first photo, she had a notebook that she was using throughout the set. At one point, a song came up that she didn't have any notes on and so she asked, "What are the lyrics?"

The Shakers were next. I missed their first song as I took off to Ballard's. Two photos I really liked there was a shot of The Like at Silverlake Jubilee and a Happy Hollows portrait photo. The Shakers killed it, giving us all a great set. To close out the night was Mad Planet. Last photo, there was some body twisting going on there.

The Swagger Sticks

The Shakers

Mad Planet

Eastern Conference Champions, Pity Party, Andy Clockwise and Come On Go With Us at Spaceland

It was off to Spaceland to catch Eastern Conference Champions, Pity Party, Andy Clockwise and Come On Go With Us.

Pity Party made some cool comments. "You can hand us cash when we get off stage. It will not be tax deductible." "They clearly feel deserving of an exit." They ended their set with a minimalist song and the lead singer's head slowly sinking below her keyboard. Eastern Conference Champions simply rocked the night. It was amazing how Spaceland just filled up to capacity as they were setting up. Joshua played with a sprained right hand. Greg had a fever. It was all good. Andy Clockwise was the final band of the night. Midnight is normally when I head off towards home, but I stuck around for a couple songs. I'll have to see this band again. The first two songs were great. And lead singer Andy just doesn't stop moving. I walked in while Come On Go With Us was playing. I swear they called themselves something different at the end of their set, but I'll go with the band name Come On Go With Us. They had a nice Halloween themed Jack O' Lantern to the side.

Come On Go With Us



Pity Party







Eastern Conference Champions





Andy Clockwise

Summer 2010 Movie Rankings

Awesome

1. Toy Story
2. Inception
3. Salt

Great Popcorn Movie

4. Iron Man 2
5. The Expendables
6. Machete
7. Cyrus
8. Despicable Me

Just short of being a great popcorn movie, but just a touch

9. Predators
10. Scott Pilgram vs. the World
11. Shrek
12. Dinner with the Schmucks
13. Twilight Eclipse

Whatever

14. Knight and Day

Oh mercy

15. Robin Hood
16. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
17. A-Team
18. The Other Guys
19. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
20. Get Him To The Greek

I looked at my movie rankings from the summer of 2009. I ranked 21 movies last summer. I only listed two that I definitely wished I'd missed. For this summer, I have six -- and slightly less movies watched. I have the same number of great movies at three, but last year I had more movies that I ranked just below great: 7 versus 5. Yes, 2009 was a much better year for summer movies.