Laurent Ruth Ward at the Echoplex

It was off to the Echoplex for Lauren Ruth Ward's last night of her residency. It was a rush from one part of the Echoplex to the other. Well, not exactly a rush, but I didn't exactly get to see full sets of Madison Douglas and The Entire Universe. The reason was that I was also there to see Gypsum who did brief sets out on the patio right after Madison Douglass and The Entire Universe.

Madison Douglas gave the audience some wonderful singer-songwriter tunes.

Madison Douglass

The Entire Universe set things up for Lauren Ruth Ward with a rocking set.

The Entire Universe

Out on the patio, Gypsum gave two sets that brought to mind Local Natives. For their first set, I was able to get to the front of the stage, but for their second set the patio was packed in. So what did I do? I headed outside of the Echoplex and caught the show from outside the patio area.

Gypsum

As for Lauren Ruth Ward? What would you expect. A packed crowd. An energizing set. And wait, a sign language speaker on stage.

Lauren Ruth Ward

Modern Time Machines, Sun Colony and Old Toy Trains at The Satellite

It was experimental rock/shoe gaze night at The Satellite.

The night started off with Old Toy Trains doing a cover of Joe Meek's "I hear a New World." It was some spacey stuff.

Old Toy Trains

Sun Colony and Modern Time Machines brought the shoe gaze.

Sun Colony's lead singer went wild with the microphone stand throughout the set.

Sun Colony

What was interesting about Modern Time Machines was running into a fellow photographer. We see each other about twice a year.

Modern Time Machines

Bad Ass Bands Night at The Hi Hat

I will admit I was in a bit of a dilemma. On this particular night, Laura Jean Anderson was scheduled at The Hi Hat and Jennie Vee was at The Lost Knight. When Jennie Vee had to cancel due to illness, it made things easy. In a way, it all worked out great, because it was a solid night of music at The Hi Hat.

First up was Ainjele Emme with some Americana music.

Ainjele Emme

TwoLips stole the show with some R'nB grooves.

TwoLips

Laura Jean Anderson closed out the night with a solo set: a musician and her guitar.

Laura Jean Anderson

What was unexpected was that Bad Ass Bands was wrapping up 5 year project of filming local bands. So they had some awesome lights going on all night. I was shooting at like 2500 ISO, something I rarely get to do when hanging out at local venues.

Pinky Pinky with Hit Bargain at The Echo

It felt like I was doing a hit and run at The Echo. There was a birthday party that was coming up, but I also wanted to catch Pinky Pinky. So it was a quick run over with an eye on the time. This being my first time catching them, I wasn't totally sure what to expect. What I heard was an awesome lo-fi punk sound. I can't wait to catch them again.

Pinky Pinky

Opening was Hit Bargain. I say they threw out some beat poetry punk.

Hit Bargain

Jesse Kivel with Ex-poets and Sophia Knapp at the Bootleg Theater

My first 2018 residency night adventure was a drive to the Bootleg Theater.

The night started out pretty solid with Ex-poets. It isn't too much to say that their music does sound like poetry. They had just started off as I walked in and I was loving their sound immediately.

Ex-poets

Sophia Knapp did a Hotel Cafe style set.

Sophia Knapp

Jesse Kivel is doing the residency. He mentioned that he had taken a multi-year break from performing. It is good he's back at it.

Jessse Kivel

Brass Box, Egrets on Ergot and Spirit In The Room at The Satellite

This was a fun night.

Egrets on Ergot went crazy with the stage show. I swear one could think pirate, West Asia, random and any number of words and that would explain their show. And given all that, there was one fan who sat on The Satellite floor throughout the set.

Egrets on Ergot

Spirit In The Room wore the black for an all out rocking set.

Spirit in the Room

Brass Box also wore the black for ethereal sounds.

Brass Box

Low Volts and Stephen El Rey at Harvard & Stone

It was a free week of music during the first week of January. I started things off at Harvard and Stone. It was a night of blues/rock. Stephen El Rey started things off with Johnny Cash style. He gets the quote of the night when he said: I'll pass a box of razor blades around for you all.

Stephen El Rey

I saw Low Volts three years back. It was nice to catch this one man show again. There were some amusing moments where he had conversations with his fictional bassist and second guitarist.

Low Volts

Ever So Android with The Great Sadness and Aud Mammal at The Hi Hat

It was a final 2017 show for me. For this final show, I went off to The Hi Hat. There was a nice variety of music.

The Great Sadness opened things up with a two-piece buzz saw. It was a rush. 

The Great Sadness

Aud Mammal's lead singer was celebrating her birthday. In fact, the whole night was her night. She has some deep vocals that make you swoon.

Aud Mammal

Ever So Android is a band that I put on my Top 15 New Band List for 2017. They did not disappoint with their Seattle punk.

Ever So Android

Travis Peery residency at The Satellite

There was some nice diversity of genres going on at The Satellite for Travis Peery's last residency night.

First up was Mason Summit who would have fit in nicely at a Hotel Cafe line up.

Mason Summit

Then Alaeddin X brought some power rock.

Aladdin X

Travis Peery ended the night with good old Americana sounds.

Travis Peery

Cover Night at The Hi Hat

It was a cover night at The Hi Hat in support of WFSU Fest.

Starting things off was New Evil doings great imitations of Billy Idol.

New Evil

Inti Wawa did some great rendition of No Doubt songs.

Inti Wawa

Cass Cravens did a one woman show of Tegan and Sara covers.

Cass Cravens

WASI did Le Tigre covers in colorful style.

WASI

Shannon Lay with Laena Geronimo and Night Shop at the Echoplex

A special night at the Echoplex. The night started off with Laena Geronimo from Feels doing a solo set. "Open your heart to me," she sang in the quite chamber of the Echoplex. It was so quite one could hear her clicking on the pedals.

Laena Geronimo

Night Shop provided another singer songwriter. While he tuned his guitar, he said, "A band member of mine used to get so nervous when tuning that in the middle of tuning he'd say, 'That's good enough."

Night Shop

It was a Feels night. Shannon Lay did her final stint of a short December residency. I swear there were moments where I thought I was listening to Enya. So wonderful.

Shannon Lay

Saro with Banoffee and Stormi Bree at the Resident

I had this night circled for awhile. Saro was playing and I hadn't seen him since early January.

Banoffee opened up the night with a look that had me thinking Mad Max. Of course, she is from Australia so maybe that helped the reference. She played her synth with aplomb.

Banofee

Stormi Bree did a short set. She's a former Miss USA. She had her keyboard and sang a few songs. Her friends were out in force.

Stormi Bree

Saro was anything, but sorrowful. Though, I will say, his eyes can convey a multitude of feelings.

Saro

At The Hi Hat: MetronOhm, Taleen Kali, WASI, and Lucy and La Mer

It was a diverse night of music at The Hi Hat for the first night of WASI's residency.

MetronOhm brought an air of Basia.

MetronOhm

Taleen Kali brought some punk sounds.

Taleen Kali

WASI brought the fun with plenty of folks playing with balloons.

WASI

Lucy and La Mer brought the cherry sounds against a backdrop of awkward dances.

Lucy and La Mer