Dia De Los Muertos at Hollywood Forever

It was off to Dia De Los Muertos at Hollywood Forever. As noted by the website, the day is "a vibrant traditional procession in the home of Hollywood's Immortals with traditional Aztec blessings and Regional Musical-Dance group dedications."

I went with friends, but in a way I wish I had gone by myself.  They zoomed pass many of the altars, while I wanted to stick around and contemplate the lives that were being celebrated.  Oh well, it was a fun night.

Ozomatli was the headliner band.  They had me jumping.  Unfortunately, I was too far away to take a decent photo of them so no photos posted of Ozomatli.



  

Mr.Elevator & The Brain Hotel at The Bootleg

I caught Mr. Elevator and The Brain Hotel at The Bootleg this past Monday.  The audience was dressed in Halloween costumes.  The band gave us a touch of a beach sound.  Costumes worn by band:  western, fortune teller, snow bum.  

The Herbert Bail Orchestra @ The Bootleg

I caught the back end of The Herbert Bail Orchestra at The Bootleg.  They kicked it.  A little touch of Americana to steal your heart.


 

Last in Class at The Satellite

Last in Class is the residency band at The Satellite.  Two come from the band Wet and Reckless, a band I followed off and on for a couple of years.

Emily from Wet and Reckless is the lead singer of Last in Class and there is still that cool beat poetry lyrical style to her singing.  

Classic moment 1:  Early into their set, Emily's microphone stand totally fell apart.  She took it all in style, grabbing her microphone to finish up the song.

Classic moment 2:  I do believe there was a discussion about what song they'd just played:  was it song x or song y.

Comment of the night 1:  Oh yeah.

Comment of the night 2:  I just do a lot of silly jokes.

Philosophical moment of the night:  This song has a lot of stops and starts, just like life.

Mia Doi Todd at The Satellite

Mia Doi Todd's name is familiar to me, but I'd never seen her in concert or heard her music.  Well, I caught up with her this past Monday and I'm happy I did.  It was a tropical paradise set.

The Shakers at the Viper Room

The Shakers played the Viper Room this past Saturday to celebrate their single release "Set My Sights."  I'm sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again:  The Shakers are a band that will definitely get me out to the Sunset Strip.  It is almost a requirement, because Jodie on stage almost demands it in advance -- in a time travel theory sort of way.

Mergence at the Viper Room

Mergence played the Viper Room with The Shakers.  This bands came to us from Arizona.  They say on their Facebook page that their sound is blues rock.  One can't complain about that.  

Blackcoat at Casey's

It was off to Casey's for a birthday party. I went to the back to catch a band and as soon as I heard the voice, I was thinking: this sounds like Automatique. Well, the band is called Blackcoat and the lead singer is from Automatique.  And band members from Automatique were there to support.

This is a two piece band.  Guitar and violin.  If you like Restavrant, you'll like this band.

A Movie Review: Looper

Looper. An interesting movie about time travel. In the future, all humanity apparently are tagged so it is difficult to just kill someone and then bury them. The mob obviously wants to dump bodies without the bodies being found. The fact that there is an ability to time travel helps out with this problem. Folks in the future that the mob wants to dump are sent to the past where a Looper does the killing. A new mob boss comes to power and decides he wants to start things fresh and so he starts to kill off all the Loopers in the future by sending them to the present and having their younger selves kill off the old selves, which means the Looper in the past has only about 30 years to live. Well, one Looper in the past escapes from his younger self and so the chase is on.

It is an intriguing storyline. Yes, there are questions the pop up, but it is a well thought out concept and therefore makes for an enjoyable movie experience.

A Movie Review: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie is another demented movie from the mind of Tim Burton. And I found it enjoyable. I will say that the ending of the movie brought up conflicting feelings; however. During the middle of the movie, the father said something about it not being appropriate to play around with life and death. I agree with him.

Sad Robot at Silverlake Lounge

Sad Robot is the residency band at Silverlake Lounge for October.  They made sure everyone was pumped up as they started their set off with a blast.  They slowed it down and then pumped us back up at the end.

Exchange of the night:

Lead singer Katherine:  Hello

Random individual walking past:  Hello

Comment of the night:  I sound like a salesman, I really do.

Orange Umbrella at Silverlake Lounge

After skipping two Mondays, I was back out catching Los Angeles bands around Silverlake/Echo Park. Reason for skipping out the past two Mondays? Well, last week, Culture Collide took a lot out of me so I decided to stay at home. Anyways, it was out and about on this Monday and I headed over to Silverlake Lounge where I caught Orange Umbrella.

Now one of my assumptions was that only singer-songwriters from Europe/Australia have band names while Americans go by their own name.  Well, that assumption got blown out of the water on this night as Josh Rowley is playing as Orange Umbrella.  Of course, one such example does not destroy a theory, right?

Did I enjoy my first Monday set in two weeks?  Yes, I did.

Lyric of the set:  Hold me now, don't you let me fall down.


 

Leftover Cuties at Eagle Rock Music Festival

My last band of the day at the Eagle Rock Music Festival was Leftover Cuties.   They reminded me of She & Him.

Comment of the set:  I can't understand half of what I'm thinking.