Zealyn with Flavia and O'neill Hudson at Hotel Cafe

So I'm a little late posting this one. I sort of got busy and then I started posting more recent nights out and failed to post this one. Anyways, a little over a month back, it was off to Hotel Cafe to catch Zealyn.

Flavia was up first. The name was familiar, but I'd never seen her play. Her drum sticks danced along with her sound. She had a cheerful personality even after starting off with technical difficulties.

O'neill Hudson hit the stage next. I'd seen her before at The Resident. One of her songs was inspired by her husband who is also a musician. From what I understood, he's often on tour and is greatly missed when he is.

Zealyn was ending a tour. Her eyes can tell a thousand stories and can jump and hop around the stage in total joy. Noticed: she did leave the stage and microphone behind at one point and step into the audience and let her vocals shine. Awesome.

Brian Hill and the Noh Starrs with Shane McKenzie and Janelane at the Bootleg Theater

Solid night out at the Bootleg Theater. Brian Hill and the Noh Starrs was finishing up their residency. It was fun running into Laena from Feels. She was one of the Noh Starrs. Fashion ruled the day for this band. My first through on Brian Hill's fashion for the night was that he was a figure ice skater who was winning some extra points via his vocals.

Janelane was the reason I went out to the Bootleg Theater on this specific night. I saw this band at Echo Park Rising and just knew I needed to take another listen. Those lyrics are filled with youthful pain around love and rejection.

Shane McKenzie opened up the night with what I can say was more art than music. When I walked in, I was in temporary confusion. He was already performing, but part of me was thinking that he was still setting things up. Then I realized that he was actually performing. So weird, so fun.

Dead Dawn, ExSage and The Tissues at the Bootleg Theater

I'll be honest I wasn't planning on heading out to the Bootleg Theater on a Sunday night. The prior week, I'd done a whole lot of music: Echo Park Rising, a Monday night residency, catching Zealyn. I figured it was time to rest up a bit. But then Dead Dawn asked if I'd like to be on the press list for their Bootleg set. Well, I had to say yes to that one.

The Bootleg was holding a mini-festival, but I went out there later (needed to get some rest). First up for me was ExSage. Yeah, I love this band. I swear they played only a 15 minute set, but I was told by Kate, the lead singer, that they played a 25 minute set. Okay, so it felt like 15 minutes. It just went by too fast. The Tissues was a band I hadn't seen before. They brought the punk and the moves. Dead Dawn hit the stage last. Lead singer China brought the hard vocals and then at times shared a tender head rub with the bassist, Gabriel. This was the third time that I saw them play. I actually saw them briefly during Echo Park Rising. I was running around hitting a number of bands within a 45 minute period and I put them on my list for a 2 set photo opportunity.

Chela, Disco Shrine and Zealyn at The Hi Hat

So it was a night of variety at The Hi Hat recently. Zealyn brought the wonderful vocals. Disco Shrine brought the dance fever. Chela brought the high kicks. It was pretty cool. I'd seen both Zealyn and Disco Shrine before. This was my first time seeing Chela.

Pioneer 11 with T.Y.E, Natia the God, and Chester Watson at The Echo

It was an interesting night mix of genres at The Echo. Pioneer 11 brought the synths mixed with guitar and bass. The two musicians switched off between these. Then The Echo turned to rap when T.Y.E, Natia the God and Chester Watson hit the stage. T.Y.E got the fans to turn the lights on via their phones. Natia the God had folks dancing on stage. And Chester Watson proved that he might be ready to hit it big.

Nightmare Air with Pair of Arrows and The Saint James Society at The Satellite

There was a 3 week period where I was working my BUTT off; however, I was able to sneak off to catch some music. Darkness ruled the air at The Satellite a couple Mondays back. Pair of Arrows, The Saint James Society and Nightmare Air ruled the night. Pair of Arrows was perhaps the most into the darkness. The Saint James Society brought rock into the night. Nightmare Air brought some hope to the darkness.

The Vigils and honeychain at The Frog Spot

It was off to The Frog Spot a couple weeks back to catch The Vigils and honeychain. The Frog Spot is this tiny outdoor location that stands above the Los Angeles river. They put on summer shows and it is always nice to head out there a couple times. On this specific late afternoon, The Vigils and honeychain showed how to put on some rock 'n roll stage moves.

Chinatown Summer Nights: Lucy and La Mer, Chris Price, Wait. Think. Fast. and isle&fever

It was off for the 2nd Chinatown Summer Nights of 2017. This time I showed up early to catch Lucy and La Mer. Funny story. I was hanging out at the Echoplex a couple weeks ago and the lead singer of the band came up to me, thinking I was someone else. Well, that encounter ended up with me showing up at their set. That's one way to get a photographer to show up at a future set. Chris Price gave us some breezing singer songwriter music. I couldn't help but notice that he placed his guitar on the keyboard stand and played it like pedal steel guitar. Wait. Think. Fast. is a band that I last caught way back when. After their set, I did some research on the band and learned that they had briefly moved to New York and recently returned to Los Angeles. isle and fever closed out the night for me with some dance vibes.

Twin Ritual and Beachwood Coyotes at the Silverlake Lounge

Sometimes when you're working your B-U-T-T off, it is nice to sneak off and catch a couple bands. That's what I did on a recent night, heading off to the Silverlake Lounge to catch Twin Ritual and Beachwood Coyotes. Twin Ritual came in from San Diego to provide some Southern California (south of Los Angeles) rock sounds. Beachwood Coyotes provided some electric shock rock. Okay, that's sort of a joke. The lead singer's microphone was having some issues and was constantly shocking the singer's mouth on hand.

Maddie Ross and Runnner at The Hi Hat

So one thing that happens every so often is that The Hi Hat posts a schedule on Twitter, but when you arrive you find out that the schedule has been switched around. Oh well.

I went to The Hi Hat to catch a couple random bands. One band I caught was Runner, a two piece band with a garage rock sound, sporting headphones.

Maddie Ross gave a set that followed the life and tributes of a middle school/high school student. Or maybe that was just an inside joke. A couple cover songs were sung, one being "Kiss Me" by Sixpense None The Richer. I love that song.

Dustin Lovelis with GospelbeacH and Lens Mozer at the Bootleg Theater

It was a solid night of Americana at the Bootleg Theater last Monday night. Dustin Lovelis was doing his July residency and was backed up by GospelbeacH and Lens Mozer.

What are some random things I noticed:

The guitarist backing Dustin Lovelis played high up the neck.

I thought the combination of low lights and the hats worn by GospelbeacH would make photography tough. It did, but then I decided to let the shadows play in my favor.

The guitarist backing Lens Mozer had some cool finger work skills.

Omniflux at The Satellite

Free night at The Satellite so I decided to do a quick hit and run. I headed over to see Omniflux. Omniflux is Mahsa Zargaran, who gave us some synth driven electronica sounds. The stage was lined with seven lights that surrounded her in a curve. In those low lights, her sound was highlighted with her dance moves. In a sense, there was a spiritual feel to her set.

Comment of the set: My nipple literally just popped out.

ExSage with Wendy Bevan, Gateway Drugs and Polyplastic

In 2016, ExSage offered to put me on a guest list. Well, I decided to use that card for their set last Friday night. Opening up the night was Wendy Bevan who provided an artistic inspired set. Do a little digging on my part, I found that she's also a wonderful photographer.

Gateway Drugs had the psychedelic lights going strong that flashed across their largely black clothing fashion sense. They had the crowd rocking

Then ExSage hit the stage. They blazed through a six song set. Just six? I was like, "Hey, I need two more songs!" ExSage added a new bassist to their lineup.

Polyplastic, based on Facebook, looks to be a relatively new band. It didn't matter, their friends where out in force to support them.