Harvard and Stone: Zoya

Zoya. It was one of those hit and run nights. I got pinged about catching Zoya's set and so I went off to catch her. She loves to tell stories in her songs. Does she love her time in California? She'll sing you a tune. One has to love how she interacts with the audience. As her set was coming to a close, she left the stage and bounced around the crowd. She tells her stories and has fun doing it.

Bootleg Theater: Rounds with Anna Vogelzang

Bootleg Theater earlier in the year did a residency featuring Jamie Drake doing a rounds music setting. They must have liked the results of that residency, because they handed off similar duties for June's residency to Anna Vogelzang. It was mentioned that she has writing/music sessions at her house. She hosts those sessions with Adam Levy.

The rounds were split into three sections of artists. Fay Wolf and Ben Jaffe (of Honey Honey fame) took part in the first section.

Dan Sheron (Balto), Peter Harper (Motor Sales) and Sydney Wayser (CLARA-NOVA) played the second section.

And the night closed out with Sofia Wolfson and Rett Madison.

A handful of them played songs they'd written that day or within a couple days or so. I believe it was based on how Anna and Adam set up the rules of their hosted writing sessions. Sydney Wayser mentioned that one of her songs was a CLARA-NOVA song, but was being played and sung the way it was meant to be heard before it got transformed to align with the CLARA-NOVA sound and style. Ben Jaffe sang a couple songs based on a fictional individual. A very wonderful evening.

Anna Vogelzang

Stories Books and Cafe: Annie Hardy with Thomas Hunter

After losing track of Annie Hardy for awhile, this was my second time catching her set this year. This night was her birthday party set. The back patio of the cafe was packed. Perhaps the most packed that I've ever seen. There is definitely something about her ruminations about life. And there's something cool about the near haphazard way she approaches her set.

Annie Hardy

Thomas Hunter opened the night with some folk sounds. He reminded folks that when the hat was on, his songs were awesome and that when the hat was off things went downhill.

Thomas Hunter

Chungking Studio: Jett Kwong

The month of May is Asian Pacific American History Month (APAHM). And apparently, my support for this yearly event is to catch Jett Kwong. Last year I caught her at Junior High Gallery in Hollywood. This year, I caught her at Chungking Studio in Chinatown. If you aren't familiar with her, she plays a mean guzheng, which is a long string instrument that is parallel to the ground. Her music style is to play it with the backing of Western string instruments. It makes for a unique sound.

Also on this night, three short films were previewed. One dealt with Chinese immigrants in Germany and The Netherlands. Another was a short film about Chinese women dealing with sexual harassment in a unique way. And the final film was about Jett Kwong's grandmother.

Harvard & Stone: Ariel Beesley with Suzie Chism and Repenter

It was off to Harvard and Stone and a Softer Sex Production night.

Playing first on the night was Suzie Chism. Her comment of the set basically described her music, "I'm playing rock like GnR in a dress."

Suzie Chism

Repenter's lead singer, Holly, could be seen pacing in front of the stage as her band set up. When they did hit the stage, she dug deep for her vocals, proving that power resides in an emotional delivery.

Repnter

Ariel Beesley closed out the night. She has quickly become one of my favorites. As her fellow fans sang along to her music, she couldn't help but say, "WTF, how do you even know the words to my songs?"

Ariel Beesley

The Echo: Capyac with Mobley, Annabelle Maginnis and Two Lips

It was off to The Echo to catch Capyac's residency.

Opening up was the amazing Mobley who came to The Echo from Austin, Texas. He jumped around between drums, keyboards and guitar. He even had his own self-made instrument where he turned those in The Echo's crowd into his own drumset.

Annabelle Maginnis took up the stage next. This is the first time I've seen her under her own name versus that of MetronOhm. She started her set by showing off her music video, Little Toes. Very dreamy sounds.

Two Lips brought us the dance moves.

Capyac closed it out with some dance sounds, as well, along with a large hair wig.

The Satellite: Harry Katz and The Pistachios with Eva Dolezalova and Dario Bronco

It was off to The Satellite to catch Harry Katz and The Pistachios' May residency.

I'm not going to lie that the big surprise of the evening was Eva Dolezalova. She opening the night and blew me away with her charismatic style. Her energetic performance was actually her first set ever. Unbelievable.

Eva Dolezalova

Dario Bronco showed some singer-songwriter muscle.

Dario Bronco

Harry Katz and The Pistachios turned up the choir rock.

Harry Katz and The Pistachios

El Cid: Isla June, Alicia Blue, French Mouth

It was off to El Cid to catch some bands on a Sunday afternoon. French Mouth opened up the afternoon with some rocks sounds.

French Mouth

Isla June is a musician I've wanted to catch for a few months now. Her sound soothed the soul.

Isla June

Alicia Blue brought the singer-songwriter magic.

Alicia Blue

Cosmic Vinyl: Hawk Percival & Friends and Sam Morrow

I happened to notice that Hawk Percival and Friends was playing a set at Cosmic Vinyl. I decided to head on out as I always enjoy her music. Of course, duh, I accidentally headed to Permanent Records first. After a quick realization that this was the wrong spot, I re-directed myself down the street. I really can't get enough of her vocals.

Haw Percival and Friends

Sam Morrow opened the afternoon for me. He did a solo set. I'm not sure if I got a real good feel for his music as he mentioned that he usually plays with a full band and an electric guitar versus the acoustic guitar he used for this particular set. No matter, it was an enjoyable set.

Sam Morrow

The Hi Hat: Night Talks, Jessica Gerhardt, Scott Bertenhagen

I happened to notice that Night Talks was playing at The Hi Hat. I figured it would be a nice time to catch them for the first time in 2019. Lead singer Soraya mentioned that she had gone hiking that morning and was exhausted. It therefore made perfect sense that she ended her set crawling across the stage.

Night Talks

Jessica Gerhardt was the featured artist for the night. Her friends were out to support. There is a mystical vibe to her music. I started thinking about that Pixar movie called Brave.

Jessica Gerhardt

Scott Bertenhagen opened the night with some artsy sounds all come from a guitar, pedals and vocals.

Scott Bertenhagen

Harvard & Stone: Emma Cole and Kat Myers

It was tax day. Okay, so I had finally finished my taxes the week before, making this night a celebration of not having to do my taxes for another year.

Emma Cole is one of my favorite singers. There is just something awesome about how she powers through her songs.

Emma Cole

Kat Myers opened the night. This was her first set in about a year. She happened to joke that she should only do a set once a year. Nah, she seemed to have too much joy on stage to just play once a year.

Kat Myers

The Satellite: Forever X2 with Somme and Distant Cousins

Forever X2 is the residency band at the Satellite for April. I got to catch their opening night. This is a band that sort of evolved from Act As if -- a band I saw a handful of times back in the day. Gabby from Smoke Season joined in for a song.

Forever X2

Distant Cousins was one surprising band for me. That band with their vocals just killed it. I loved their set.

Distant Cousins

Somme opened up the night. She led with her vocals and, I couldn't help but notice, a bass. How often do lead singers play the bass versus the guitar? Pretty cool.

Somme

AEROS music videos at Club Bahia with Barrie Rose, Aimee Lay and Strange Phases

Sometimes bands or artists send me DMs on Instagram asking me to catch their sets. I don't get offers that often from special events. Well, I recently got an invitation to catch the AEROS premiere, which is a series of videos put together by various local musicians/bands. I decided to head over after taking a look at the lists of performers and saw that Barrie Rose was on the list. I last saw her way back in 2016 at Make Music Pasadena. That made my decision to agree to catch the video premiere. Also, I have to admit, I was a little intrigued by the venue it was being held at, Club Bahia. I've never been there, but they seem to "like" a lot of my Instagram photos.

Barrie Rose

Also, performing that night were Strange Phases and Aimee Lay I'd never heard of Strange Phases. And I've actually seen Aimee Lay's name listed around town, but had never had a chance to catch a set.

Aimee Lay

Admittedly, the sets for all three artists were short and sweet, but I'm happy I went. It is always nice to go someplace different, support a vision and see some local musicians perform.

Strange Phases