The Mots Nouveaux and Steve Carlson at Hotel Cafe

There will be more on this night at some point on Intraffik so I'm posting just photos for now of The Mots Nouveaux and Steve Carlson.

The Mots Nouveaux









Steve Carlson

The Child, Army Navy and Baron Von Luxxury at Three Clubs

Okay, after Pershing Square (previous post), I still hadn't gotten my fill of music. I headed off to Three Clubs to catch Baron Von Luxxury, The Child and Army Navy.

Baron Von Luxxury had his dad in the audience.  He gave us a flamboyant set.  Interesting note:  his new album was going to be titled Women of a Certain Age.  He was informed that this is a trademarked (corrected based on below comment) term.  Strange.  

The Child -- I am definitely falling in love with this band.  They have this cool vibe that surrounds them.  Lead singer Holly Marilyn was trying to get the audience to stand up and dance.  Her attempts didn't work.  Three Club has steps that surround the stage.  Most folks were sitting on those steps, listening to The Child like they were doing an acoustic set.  I'm sure they won't have that problem for long.

Comment:  You were a fun audience, maybe a little boring.  No you weren't.  Yes you were.  No you weren't.  Yes you were.

Army Navy closed out the night.  Not doing any research here, but I believe I last saw Army Navy way back at Silverlake Lounge when they were playing with Local Natives.  That's three plus years ago.  I've always wanted to catch one of their sets again.  They were off the LA circuit for awhile, but I started to notice that they've been playing around town recently.

Comment:  Note to self:  don't write the set list in the same color as the stage lights.

What I need to learn.  The bands were a bit behind the posted times.  Just minutes before The Child was to hit the stage, all their friends seemed to arrive.  How do they know when to show up?  Well, maybe they were just hanging out in the bar . . .

Baron Von Luxxury





The Child







Army Navy

Black Flamingo and Spirit Vine at Pershing Square

It was off to Pershing Square to catch Black Flamingo and Spirit Vine.

I first saw Black Flamingo at Silverlake Jubilee.  I was enchanted and so I, of course, wanted to catch them again.  Pershing Square provided the perfect opportunity -- a lovely summer evening in Los Angeles.  (Between Silverlake Jubilee and Pershing Square, I saw a partial set of theirs at The Satellite.)  I love the vocals.  

Comment:  If you're out there, say "Here."

The headlining band for the night was Spirit Vine.  I've heard of this band, but this was the first time I saw a full set of theirs (I believe this is true -- I might have caught a partial set in the past).  They had folks dancing in front of the stage.  

Noticed:  there were two homeless guys who came up and starting dancing to the music.  Security quickly rushed over and told them to leave.  The homeless guys left, but tried to approach once again.  Security rushed over and one even took out a baton.  The baton wasn't used on the homeless guys, but was pulled for an obvious reason -- to put a little fear into the two guys.  I admit I don't know the history between these two guys and Pershing Square.  Maybe there is a history there, but from my perspective, it seemed over the top.

Black Flamingo







Spirit Vine

The Ross Sea Party @ Silverlake Lounge

The Ross Sea Party. After checking out Lonely Wild at Bootleg, I took off to Silverlake Lounge to catch the residency band, The Ross Sea Party. My goal is to do a Monday Night Photo column for Intraffik.com. Some sneak peak of some photos . . .

Interesting note:  They had paintings lined up in front of the stage. 

Before they went on stage, I noticed a couple folks taking photos of the "Salvation" sign that is above the stage.  Newbies to Silverlake Lounge?

The Lonely Wild at The Bootleg

The Lonely Wild. I really love this band and am frustrated that I can't ever convince any of my friends to come and check them out. One of these days I'll be able to get someone to come along.

New for me, I believe:  Jessi Williams playing the bass.


Comment of the night: We have 8 to 10 minutes? Okay, quick meeting, we have two songs for you.

The Hex Dispensers and The Arrivals playing Razorcake's 10 yr anniversary

Before heading out to the American Legion Hall in Highland Park, I had dinner with some friends so I wasn't able to catch all for bands. I did arrive in time for The Hex Dispensers and The Arrivals.

The Hex Dispensers got folks to form a mosh pit.  The Arrivals got folks laughing about men breasts.  This is probably the largest crowd I've ever seen at the American Legion Hall -- not that I've been here for a lot of concerts.

The Hex Dispensers





The Arrivals

Stone Darling and Whispering Pines @ The Satellite

It was off to The Satellite to continue my normal Monday rotation to catch the various residency bands. Up first was Whispering Pines and then it was the residency band, Stone Darling.

Whispering Pines gave an inspiring set.  Someone from the audience yelled out, "Ten more songs."  A person from the band yelled out, "Ten more beers."  The response, "Ten more songs.  I can't drink ten more beers."  I wasn't sure what to expect from Stone Darling.  I had never seen them before and kept on wanting to call them Summer Darling.  I am happy I caught them and quickly "Liked" them on Facebook.  To end their set, Whispering Pines joined them on stage.

Comment:  Ben and Shaun, report to the stage.

Thought on Summer Darling:  I'm sure everyone has a role in a band.  I suspect the drummer is the no-nonsense type when it comes to practice or sets.  I overheard her saying, "Are we playing or what?"   If I had to make a bet on who makes sure things get accomplished, I'd place my bet on her.

Whispering Pines







Stone Darling

A Movie Review: Crazy Stupid Love

Crazy Stupid Love. A movie that focuses in on love and how crazy and stupid it can get sometimes. We have Cal (Steve Carell) who over dinner learns that his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), wants a divorce. At the same time, his young son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), is expressing his love for the baby sister, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). And we have Jacob (Ryan Gosling), picking up random women at the bar, but being rejected by one who might actually be his soul mate, Hannah (Emma Stone).

This is a multi-generational story of love and it works marvelously: puppy love to first committed relationship to perhaps the ending arc of a long-term relationship. It is a well acted out movie led by the driving forces of the movie, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling. You also find yourself falling in love with Emma Stone and Julianne Moore.

A Movie Review: Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens. We have Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) in the desert, he has lost his memory. Horse riders come up, asking for directions. They see a strange devise attached to his arm and assume it is a sophisticated handcuff. They decide to take him in as they assume there might be an award. Bad mistake. Jake wonders into a town where he soon encounters a couple interesting folk: Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) who has an interest in Jake and Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) who pretty much rules the town. We quickly learn there are issues between Colonel Dolarhyde and Jake Lonergan. Those are quickly put to the side when a common enemy comes around – aliens.

I know this movie isn’t winning over the critics and it is under-performing at the box office (I could see it still making $100m, but that is probably a far cry from what was hoped), but I enjoyed this cowboys and aliens genre mix. It was just fun watching cowboys dashing off after aliens who obviously had vastly superior technology.

The Maxies, Talky Tina and maybe (White Night The Regressions) at Blue Star

I was reading a book when a friend sent a text Saturday evening, asking if I wanted to head over to the Blue Star to catch some bands. Of course . . .

Now I have to admit that I'm not sure about the names of a couple of the bands. I do know that Talky Tina and The Maxies were the 2nd and 3rd bands I saw. As for the first and last bands I saw, maybe White Night and The Regressions.  Talky Tina was trying to figure out the names of the two bands that played before them, but no one in the audience seemed to know.  Oh well.  And the last band didn't introduce themselves -- or I missed it.  Bummer.  If anyone comes across this blog and knows the answer, please let me know.

Talky Tina gave us some love from San Jose.  They joked about the fact that they might have been the oldest band at Blue Star.  The Maxies put on a show with folks spraying silly string all over the stage.  You can see the aftermath below.  It got slippery on stage.  A friend jumped on stage towards the end and immediately slipped -- sheepish embarrassment.  As the next band was getting ready to go on stage, I over-heard someone say, "Good luck with all that."

A great last minute night of music.

White Night






Talky Tina





The Maxies









The Regressions

A Movie Review: Friends with Benefits

Friends with Benefits. Okay, one has to give it up to Mila Kunis, she definitely picked the better movie in the post-Black Swan competition with Natalie Portman. I’m not saying that Friends with Benefits is the perfect movie, but it is far better than No Strings Attached.

In this version of two friends trying to have a sexual relationship without the emotional attachment, we have Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis). Dylan is a successful art director executive who is contacted by a headhunter, Jamie, to take the top art director position at GQ magazine. He is initially hesitant about moving from Los Angeles to New York City, but he finally decides to go for it. As Jamie is the only person he knows in NYC, he strikes up a friendship with her. And well, the title tells the rest of the story.

The movie is entertaining, but at moments I couldn’t help but think about No Strings Attached. I swear at one point I was totally confused about which movie I was watching. That aside, Kunis and Timberlake had real film chemistry together. And I love the moment in the film where there is a distinct miscommunication regarding the direction of their relationship.

Also the side characters played by Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman and Woody Harrelson were awesome and enhanced your understanding of the two leads.

I enjoyed the movie, but I can't fully praise it.  In my opinion, the movie played it rather straight, but I felt that when they dealt with Dylan’s learning disability with math, they went over the top silly. It just didn’t fit with the movie style. Also, hopefully not giving too much away, but later in the movie we find out that Dylan’s decision to switch jobs was faced with major complications versus just the LA vs. NY reason that is giving at the beginning of the movie. This later revelation might make sense in the Dylan/Jamie department, but it doesn’t work out very well for the audience, which has to at least briefly consider rather or not Dylan is just a thoughtless jerk.

Raining Jane at Hotel Cafe

I'm planning to post something on Intraffik regarding this night so just some photos of Raining Jain for now.














Guest Back-up Musician