Crimekillz at Eagle Rock Music Festival

Crimekillz was the first band that I saw at the Eagle Rock Music Festival.  I'll call it techno-rap punk.  A lot of songs ended with "Mom."

The Mo-odds at El Cid

It was off to El Cid to catch The Mo-odds.   The band has expanded from 4 to 6 recently giving them a fuller sound.

Also, recently, the lead singer has had this habit of undressing during the second half of their sets.   I believe the first time I noticed this was at Silver Lake Jubilee.  This set off a few comments . . .

Comment of the night 1: He does this every set.

Comment of the night 2: That's why your phone always breaks.

The Woolly Bandits at El Cid

The Woolly Bandits played El Cid last Thursday. This was the first time I saw this band since 2009. Sometimes it is a good thing to catch up with a band.  It does appear that over the last few years, the band has replaced at least two band members.  But lead singer Christa still leads the band and she's as a seductive on stage as she was back in 2009. 

It was mentioned that they had decided to call it quits awhile back, but were doing a few shows anyways.  Good for them.   

Pu$$y Cow at El Cid

Pu$$y Cow played El Cid last week on a Thursday night.  It was their first full set in a very long time.  They were the first band up and they got everyone into the groove for the night.  I do believe that lead singer, Joe, spent more time on the floor versus the stage.  It was great to see them. 

The Silver Chords at The Satellite

The Silver Chords hit the stage at The Satellite at 11 p.m. They had a psychedelic style that entices the audience.  It was a great way to end the night for me.  Note:  a flute was brought out for one song.

Light FM at The Satellite

Light FM hit up The Satellite on a Thursday night.  This band on occasion has Sara Radle play with them though not on this particular night.  This isn't the first time I've seen this band.  As always, their set was enjoyable.  For awhile, I couldn't help but wonder why they had a keyboard on stage if no one was using it.  I then hit my head with my hand when I saw that it WAS being used to provide background tracks.  

Birds of a Black Feather at The Satellite

It was a Thursday night at The Satellite where I got to catch Birds of a Black Feather play their first set.  Two of the band members were formerly part of one of my all time favorite local bands, The Mulhollands.  The Mulhollands had a touch of pop inspiration.  That is gone and now replaced with a rock sound that has just a touch of Southern inspiration.  There is also a toy piano.  Birds of a Black Feather performed a thirty minute set before a sizable 9 p.m. audience.  You'll be catching future blog posts on this site about this band, because they're added to my list of bands that I like to catch on a regular basis.

Summer 2012 movies

My Summary of the 2012 Summer movies that I caught.

Highly Recommend

1.  ParaNorman

Fun

2.  Dark Knight Rises
3.  Snow White and the Huntsman
4.  Moonrise Kingdom
5.  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
6.  Marvel's The Avengers
7.  The Intouchables
8.  The Expendables 2
9.  Ted
10.  Ruby Sparks

Okay

11.  Prometheus
12.  Premium Rush
13.  Safety Not Guaranteed
14.  Men in Black III

Neutral

15.  Hope Springs
16.  The Amazing Spider-Man
17.  Beasts of the Southern Wild

Not for Me

18.  Brave
19.  Savages
20.  The Campaign

I took a look at my 2011 movie rankings.  I saw a similar number of movies.  Twenty this year and twenty-one last year.  I think both years are weighted about equally when it comes to good and bad movies -- that I saw, of course.  I will say this though, last year I thought there were a number of movies that I felt deserved an Oscar nod.  This year, I'm not sure any of the movies I saw deserve an Oscar nod.  I loved ParaNorman, but I'm not sure that this is an Oscar level film.  Dark Knight Rises was fun and good, but I think an Oscar nominated movie should have less plot holes.  I know critics loved Beasts of the Southern Wild, but I wasn't sold.

A Movie Review: ParaNorman

ParaNorman. A story about a kid who sees ghosts and is called upon to save the town from a vengeful witch who is getting ready to rise from the grave. I haven’t been too keen on animations recently, but this one was well worth it. It had fun characters. It had an interesting storyline. And it also had a good lesson: sometimes we need to re-think our beliefs, because they could be wrong.

The Lonely Wild at Satellite

The Lonely Wild is the residency band at the Satellite.  I love this band and one of the reasons is I never know what to expect.  What do I mean by this?  I could be totally wrong, but sometimes their sets are rocking and sometimes they slow it down.  This one was also unique.  Either they added a number of new songs or they were taking a totally different spin on all their songs.  I swear that I barely recognized a couple of my favorite songs.  Yeah for surprises.  I'm betting the next time I see them there will be a whole new spin on things.  

Chicano Batman at Satellite

Chicano Batman is a sonic spin on a Latin sound.  I saw this band a couple year's back at Bloomfest.  It is nice to know that they're still around.

Noticed #1:  one of the band members was doing stretching exercises before the set started.

Noticed #2:  a friend jumped on stage to take some smart phone photos.

Battleme at Satellite

Has there ever been a bad band that came through Los Angeles from Portland? I haven't seen one yet. Battleme kept he streak alive.  This band just blew the doors off the hinges.  Their opening song highlighted their singer's falsetto voice and their speed rock style.  They questioned if the crowd was too quiet.  I don't know, for a 9 p.m. band, they had the crowd rocking.

Comment of the set about their manager:  He's a f*cking right wing Republican, but he's a great songwriter.

Rock Child at Silverlake Lounge

Rock Child was the last band I saw on Monday night at Silverlake Lounge.  I didn't know what to expect.  I noticed that their Facebook page has only about 200 likes.  They must have just set up their Facebook page, because their Myspace page is around 4,000 friends.  The Myspace friends seems like a more appropriate number, because this band is top notch.  This set was like the Sunset Strip meeting Silver Lake.