Penelope Fortier, Correatown and Eliza Rickman at Bootleg

Off to the Bootleg on a rare Sunday night for me. I was there mainly to catch Eliza Rickman. I also saw Penelope Fortier and Correatown.

First off, I was totally thrown off by the fact that there was a different door guy and ticket gal working there. I was momentarily thrown off by that.  You get used to certain people -- maybe the folks I know were off on Sunday night.  (As mentioned, it was a rare Sunday night at the Bootleg for me so perhaps the two working that night are the normal Sunday night crew.)

When I walked in, Penelope Fortier was on the back end of her set.  What I noticed?  She had a wonderful smile and soft, enticing voice.  Correatown was up next: the lead singer with a friend playing along with her.  It was one of those sets where one can sit back and experience Hotel Cafe at the Bootleg.  Speaking of Hotel Cafe.  Eliza Rickman usually plays at Hotel Cafe, but she had us spellbound at the Bootleg on this Sunday night.  She was under the weather and mentioned that she needed to cancel a couple shows that week.  She also mentioned that this was the first time she ever played at the Bootleg and one kind of got the idea that if she was actually scheduled at her normal spot at Hotel Cafe that she might have called in sick.  I've followed Eliza Rickman off and on for the past couple years.  My initial impression was that she was a quirky singer-songwriter who played around on a toy piano.  After this set, my impression is that she is growing into a very cool female singer songwriter.    

Penelope Fortier



Correatown



Eliza Rickman

Sabrosa Purr, Useless Keys and Light FM at Silverlake Lounge

I took off to Silverlake Lounge on my normal Monday rotation. I caught Sabrosa Purr, Useless Keys and Light FM. Sabrosa Purr was the main draw for me on this night.  I saw them a few months back at the Bootleg and was eager to see them again.  I arrived a little late and was stuck in the back.  I wanted to take some photos.  A path eventually opened up and I was able to take a few shots.  Useless Keys hit the stage next.  As one mentioned on twitter, the first three bands all had female bass players.  Light FM hit the stage next, the residency band at Silverlake Lounge.  I previously saw them at the Bootleg.  Sara Radle was playing the keys for them.  That made for a nice surprise.

I ran into a couple of young ladies there.  We had a fun conversation.

Sabrosa Purr



Useless Keys



Light FM

A Moview Review: Like Crazy

Like Crazy. The opening scene has Anna (Felicity Jones) up front in a college class. She’s presenting her paper that deals with communication/relationships. I have no clue what she’s saying. It is all a muddled pseudo-intellectual talk that you understand when you’re attending the Ivory Towers. And yet there are a couple words that stand out (or maybe I’m just imagining these words): communication, relationships. Those two words represent the backbone of this movie.

You also can’t help but notice in this opening scene that Anna is distracted while she’s standing in front of the class. She’s trying to catch the eye of the student-assistant sitting off to the side, Jacob (Anton Yelchin). She leaves a note on his car windshield, which to me implies that she’s stalked him enough to know where he parks in this vast college campus (I’m just assuming it is meant to be UCLA or USC as the film takes place in Los Angeles and London).

And so starts the first of four relationship cycles. He calls her up and they go out on a coffee date. The conversation is extremely awkward. They warm up to each other and you witness a love that is thrilling. And then this first cycle comes to a close. She’s from the United Kingdom and must return before her student visa expires. They do one last trip to Catalina and knowing that the end is near, Anna grows quiet. This cycle repeats in some degree or another throughout the movie (though the last part of the cycle sometimes turns into bickering versus silence).

Anyone who has watched the trailer understands that she decides to overstay her Visa, deciding not to leave for the UK the day after their Catalina trip. Instead, she sticks around for three more months and leaves (camera highlights a calendar) on an unspecified day in September 2007. Her return to the UK was for a wedding and she quickly tries to return to the US, but is stopped at customs due to her over-staying her student visa and she is returned to the UK.

I wasn’t sure if I should mentioned what comes next, but I read a handful of reviews and the reviewers felt comfortable mentioning the following. When the two are separated, they both have other relationships (affairs). Jacob hooks up with his employee, Sam (Jennifer Lawrence). Anna hooks up with her next door neighbor, Simon (Charlie Bewley).

Their see-other-people relationships results in the following question: is their relationship really just a one sided love affair?

It is Anna who has the least satisfying relationship. There are various scenes between Anna and Simon where tokens of her relationship with Jacob are broken or set aside and you can see her heart breaking. It is understood that Jacob encourages, while Simon controls. It is Anna who has a glow when she is with Jacob versus Simon. It is Anna who reaches out to Jacob.

As it is Anna who has the visa problems, you can’t help but wonder why Jacob doesn’t move to London. Yes, he develops a business designing chairs, but as Anna mentions her parents could help out financially while he set up a similar business in London. And Anna during the third relationship cycle asks, “Can I bring up the topic again of you moving to London?” I felt like his using work as his reason for not moving to London was more of an excuse (therefore the question regarding this love affair). (This movie is a love story so I suspect there is a more complex reason to why Jacob feels he has to stay in Los Angeles, which is addressed off screen or maybe on the editing floor.) Even though Jacob is obviously able to develop a much more satisfying relationship with Sam than Anna with Simon, you can’t help but notice how he drops everything once Anna calls/texts.

My answer is that this is a two way love affair. Others might see it differently.

I might have a handful of issues with the movie such as why is Sam so docile while getting tossed to the side by Jacob (which perhaps speaks more to her personality), but my problems are minor and from beginning to end this movie found my heart. Here’s hoping it finds a large audience.

House cleaning:

I suspect the movie spans four years though I glanced through one review which quoted seven. The difference might be that I’m assuming they met as seniors while the reviewer I read probably believes they met as freshman.

I suspect that both Anna and Jacob come from upper-middle income families.

How is it that LAX and Heathrow are so void of people when the two of them are at these two airports?

I love how the movie has the two characters switching from cell phones to smart phones. It is a reminder that time is passing.

A Movie Review: Happy Feet 2

Happy Feet 2. An earthquake causes the penguins’ living location to sink in the ground. Since they can’t fly, it means they will die from starvation unless a way out is found. Animals and humans try their best to save the penguins.

For what it is, this movie isn’t bad; however, I suspect it is meant for those twelve and under. I went with some kids and they seemed to enjoy it. For me, I couldn't help but think it was a Ice Age sequel of some sort.

Summer Series 2011: Delayed, but Golden

So this was supposed to go up on Intraffik.com, but sometimes things don't work out as planned.  Instead of having this just gather dust, I figured I'd post it here.

Summer Series:

The Favorites

Is there a better way to start off a summer music post than to mention one of your favorite local bands? Nope. It was off to On the Roxy to catch The Mulhollands. After finding my free parking spot (in past columns, I’ve provided locations for free parking, but it was suggested that for the Sunset Strip I should just keep my mouth shut), I walked up the stairs to On the Roxy and caught part of an acoustic set by Diana Gone Wrong’s lead singer. I hadn’t seen her band in almost two years, but I remembered exactly where I’d caught them: Skinny’s in North Hollywood. Sometimes my memory serves me well. Also there that night was Celeste from Underwater City People. She joined in on a song for the acoustic duo of Donato McDermott and Everett Connors. The crowd inside On the Roxy started to build up as the countdown to The Mulhollands set began. They didn’t disappoint as they gave us a fun set, which include singing atop the bar counter. Well, maybe I should take that “disappoint” word back. There was a demand for two more songs, but they just gave us one. The night was put on by Bohemian Basement. Bohemian Basement. On the Rox. Down. Up. Nevermind, my own word play.

Diana Gone Wrong



Everette Connors and Donato McDermott (w/ special guest from Celeste Kim)






The Mulhollands



A couple days later it was off to The Satellite to catch The Lonely Wild and Family of the Year. I’ve followed The Mulhollands for awhile, but it was just last year that I caught up with these two bands and their Americana inspiration. The one thing I’ve noticed about The Lonely Wild (or maybe it is just my imagination) is that their sets are either of two contrasting sounds: sometimes they let the melody linger and other times they’re just rocking out. On this night, they let the melody linger. Family of the Year closed out the night with a set that had the crowd cheering at the end.

The Lonely Wild




Family of the Year



It was off to Harvard and Stone to catch a band called The Child. The keyboardist is Lauren Rocket of Rocket fame. She was dressed in black versus her more colorful style as a Rocket. They gave us a quick six song set. A man standing next to me made sure I knew that it was Lauren Rocket that I was photographing. I learned that he is Brad Elterman, a photographer who photographed The Runaways, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and many others. After The Child, I stuck around for Papercranes. It was their Tuesday night residency at Harvard and Stone. My how-things-can-happen-around-me-while-I’m-taking-photos story: The lead singer left the stage and maneuvered her way through the crowd. I felt it was a perfect time to catch some photos of the rest of the band. Before I knew it, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she was above us, singing from a steel platform that hangs from the ceiling. I took a few more photos of the band and once again before I knew it she had slid down a pole and was back on the stage.

The Child




Papercranes



Four Straight Days

On a Saturday night it was off to see 10,000 Maniacs at Pershing Square. I think there was one person who thought the lead singer was Natalie Merchant or maybe he was just being a jerk and his yelling out, “Natalie Merchant”, was meant to imply that 10,000 Maniacs wasn’t the same without Merchant. I did not care that Merchant had long ago left the band as I still loved their set. As for the lead singer, “I’ve been with 10,000 Maniacs for awhile. In fact, I was a backup singer when Natalie Merchant was around. If you look at the cover of the MTV Unplugged CD, I’m the blurry girl in the background.” Sunday I hung out with some friends at Pasadena Levitt Pavilion where The Belle Brigade was holding court. First up was an unexpected addition to the night, Little Hurricane, a two piece band that gave us a rocking start to the night. As for Belle Brigade, this is probably a set they will want to forget or possibly laugh about later when time heals. They let everyone know immediately that they were down a guitarist. They had gone out to eat and afterwards their guitarist came down with a severe migraine. Then I began to notice that Barbara wasn’t as active as she normally is (from seeing them at Satellite). For their final song “Losers” I saw her run off stage in the middle of the song, leaving her brother to finish up. After the band left the stage, a demand was made for an encore. The MC went to get them, but then came back out to announce that unfortunately, Belle Brigade wouldn’t be able to continue due to Barbara coming down with food poisoning. Too much MSG was used by that restaurant, I say. Monday it was off to The Bootleg to catch Robert Francis. His sister used to be part of the Kiss or Kill Club scene (I was late to the Kiss or Kill scene, so this is based on outside input). It was actually an interesting combination of music genres that night. The night opened up with Taylor Locke, a singer songwriter. Up second was Boots Electric, a solid rock band with a lead singer who gives off the aura of presiding over an evil religious revival meeting. There was some discussion regarding the age of the lead singer’s girlfriend, bassist. My friend insisted that she heard she was only 15. I insisted that I heard they met when she was 15 in Mexico City. In the audience for Boots Electric, I saw Barb Wire Dolls who usually play the Sunset Strip. Robert Francis closed out the night, a singer-songwriter. This interesting switch of genres also resulted in a near complete change over in the audience in between the sets of Boots Electric and Raining Jane. He gave us an hour and 20 minute set and his sister joined for a handful of songs. To end the streak of four days, I hung out with our Intraffik editor at Hotel Café to catch Raining Jane. I came across this band due to my following of Lucy Schwartz. I soon learned that various members from this band play backup for Lucy Schwartz. I have to say that this band definitely isn’t just some backup band for Lucy Schwartz. They gave us a lovely set though perhaps with violent overtones, “Buy our record or I’ll hit you in the throat.”

And since I mentioned Lucy Schwartz so much in the above paragraph, I may as well note that I headed off to the Bronson Caves on September 11th to catch her with The Heartstrings (a string quartet named no doubt after a line in her song, ‘Take a Picture’). This was my first time ever at the Bronson Caves. I’ve hung out within yards of these caves and never even knew the caves were there. Along with perhaps 75 other individuals, I got to listen to a wonderful 45 minute set.

10,000 Maniacs



Little Hurricane



The Belle Brigade





Taylor Locke




Boots Electric




Robert Francis




Raining Jane



Lucy Schwartz




Summer Ends with Tradition and a New Addition

This is my third summer post. Each time I’ve mentioned Aaron Beaumont. Do you think I would do a third post and miss this tradition? Aaron Beaumont has now joined forces with Emma Fitzpatrick to form the band The Mots Nouveaux – yeah, admittedly a bit complicated to pronounce if you are clueless about the French language (count me as one of them). It was off to Hotel Café to catch their set. There is still the 1920s influence, but with Emma’s vocals there is an added element of reflective poetry.



Laura Vall ends this summer series. A friend handed me a flier about a CD release party for someone named Laura Vall. It was being held at a place called Revival, which is all the way out in Venice. Hmm . . . that’s far, was the first thought to come to mind. I decided to go, however. And since I am one of the few folks in Los Angeles without a smart phone, I actually got lost a couple times trying to find the place. I did make it with plenty of time to spare. What a beautiful set. As a gift for attending the release party, everyone received a CD. I’ve listened to that CD a number of times in the past couple weeks.

A Movie Review: 50/50

50/50. A young man who lives a healthy lifestyle, Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), finds out that he has a rare form of cancer and that his chances of survival are 50-50. We follow him through his cancer treatment and how his relationships are impacts. We see him growing closer to his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), falling apart from his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), and dealing with parent-child complications with his mother (Anjelica Huston). And, of course, one has to mention his psychologist Katherine (Anna Kendrick).

This is a movie that deals with the struggles of unexpected hardship (meaning I think folks can relate to this movie even if they haven’t dealt with cancer). This movie has a comedic bent to it and walks the delicate dramady combination well.

And note on Bryce Dallas Howard who has this gift recently of playing heartless characters.

A Movie Review: Moneyball

Moneyball. If you read my blog regularly, you'll notice I write occasionally about basketball and football, but never baseball.  The reason is that I'm not really into baseball.  But this movie had some pedigree.  The movie was based on a Michael Lewis book.  I've actually never read a Michael Lewis book, but he did write books that I am aware of:  The Big Short, Blindside, Liar's Poker.  And this movie stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.  It was also well reviewed.  And I got the impression the movie was about more than baseball; a movie about the implementation of a change in philosophy.

I'm not sure this movie deserves a best picture nod as some seem to be saying, but I definitely enjoyed it.  It is a movie about a General Manager of the Oakland A's deciding that he had to switch things up in order to keep up with money teams such as New York and Boston.  Sometimes you just have to think differently and sometimes thinking differently is actually the right way to go.

A Movie Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene. So maybe I should have paid more attention while watching this movie, because I obviously missed out on something. We have Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) who is given a nickname Marcy May by cult leader Patrick (John Hawkes), but where did the Marlene come into play?

The movie starts with Martha at cult's compound. She soon escapes to her family: her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), and brother-in-law, Ted (Hugh Dancy).  Her time with the cult causes a type of post traumatic stress disorder.  She fears that Patrick will go searching for her and she finds it hard to re-integrate into normal society.  Through flash-backs we find that her time at the cult initially started with sexual brainwashing but quickly spiraled into criminal behavior.

I am up in the air with this movie.  I loved the pacing of the movie, but some things just got me irritated.  For example, though her sister and brother-in-law in my mind want to help Martha (yes, they get frustrated, but wouldn't anyone get frustrated with the erratic behavior of a loved one), they for some reason seem hesitant to ask her deeper questions about her two year disappearance.  I don't even think they realize that she was in a cult for two years.  They seem to just accept the fact that she was in a bad relationship.  Of course, maybe when you haven't seen someone for two years, you're hesitant to ask the deeper questions.

Also, I didn't pay close enough attention to when the name Marlene came into play.  Maybe if I did the movie would make more sense.  Somehow I suspect the last few scenes would have played out better.  I'll have to catch this movie on the Sundance channel some day and re-review this movie.

 

Pu$$y Cow and French Exit playing Redwood Bar

Pu$$y Cow. Lead singer, Joe, pushed his way through the crowd a couple times. A comment was made that the men in the audience should show their bro-tatoes -- you needed to be there.

French Exit. This was my second time seeing them. I'm happy I saw them a second time. After their first song, I was thrilled that I'd stuck around to see them.

Pu$$y Cow



French Exit

Raw Geronimo at Origami Vinyl

Okay, first off not the best Raw Geronimo photo, but I didn't bring my top end camera as I was coming directly from work. Anyways, lead singer, Laena Geronimo, gave one energetic performance. And the music is fun and raw.

Little Hurricane and The Janks at The Bootleg Bar

The Janks. What wonderful sounding music.

Little Hurricane. I caught them at the Levitt Pavilion Pasadena. I decided to catch them again. Great set. Pounding beat.

The Janks



Little Hurricane

Underwater City People, The King Cheetah, Ol' Bessy and Drag News at Los Globos Nightclub

It was off to Los Globas Nightclub to celebrate Underwater City People's album release party. I got to catch The King Cheetah, Ol' Bessy, Drag News and closing out the night for me was Underwater City People. It was a good time to catch up with friends and celebrate a new album.

The King Cheetah



Ol' Bessy



Drag News



Underwater City People

Twilight Sleep and Empires at The Satellie

It was off to The Satellite to catch Empires and Twilight Sleep. Empires hail from Chicago. They had one major fan up front who actually got a number of people to get real close to the stage for their final song.  Maybe the guy was from Chicago.  I have to say I love the way their lead singer is staring out into the audience in the below photo.  Twilight Sleep hit the stage next.  I hadn't seen them since Silverlake Jubilee.  I say compare the facial expressions of the two lead singers in the below photos.

Empires



Twilight Sleep