Song Spotlight: LINNEA's Tough Luck (a night at The Fable)

I'll occasionally head out to The Fable to catch a Ryan Pollie hosted Tuesday night. Sometimes I go out to The Fable because I know a band that he booked such as Janelane. Other times I'll go there even though I don't know a single person or band on the bill. That was the case when I went out on a recent December night. First up was LINNEA (Linnea Delaney Johansen). It took about 5 seconds, let's say, to come to the conclusion that I made the right decision to head out on this particular Tuesday night.

LINNEA at The Fable

Song Spotlight: Lovecolor's Hearts on Fire (a night at Hotel Cafe)

Lovecolor came on through Los Angeles in support of their (at the time) soon to be released debut album "LOVECOLOR." The Hotel Cafe was the place to be to catch the set. The band played seven of the nine songs off the album as well as two of lead singer Vanessa Silberman's own previous releases.

Lovecolor at The Hotel Cafe

Notes from Vivace Show Alerts (Los Angeles): Jan 12th - Jan 18th

A Handful of Show Alerts 

Cancelled. Monday: Jan 13th: Hannah Hughes at Harvard & Stone. Doors at 8 p.m.
Hannah Hughes is also in the band Julez and the Rollerz. I covered their Is This Where The party Is? EP release party at Non Plus Ultra for US Rocker Music.

Cancelled. Tuesday: Jan 14th: Devon Ross at Zebulon. Doors at 8 p.m.

You can my review of one of her sets here.

Cancelled. Tuesday Jan 14th: Kat French at Hotel Ziggy. Doors at 7 p.m.
You can read my NFV Song Spotlight of "Casket" here.

Wednesday Jan 5th: Eugene Edwards at Harvard & Stone. Doors at 8 p.m.

You can read my review of a Western Edge Tribute night at Zebulon that I wrote for US Rocker Music here which included Eugene Edwards.

Saturday Jan 18th: Bruvvy at The Viper Room. Doors at 4:30 p.m.

One of my favorite "new to me, but maybe not to you" 2024 bands. You can see the full list here.

Saturday Jan 18th: Kills Birds at the Moroccan Lounge. Doors at 9:30 p.m.

You can read my NFV Song Spotlight of their song "Glisten" here.

Saturday Jan 18th: Mating Ritual at Gold-Diggers. Doors at 7 p.m.
If interested, you can read my review of their Songs for the Morning and Evening Times album release party at Zebulon for Buzzbands.

Postponed. Saturday Jan 18th: Tolliver and TwoLips at The Echo. Doors at 7 p.m.

Interestingly, I covered both bands for Buzzbands at Echo Park Rising across the years. You can read my brief mention of Tolliver as well as photos of both in my 2023 Echo Park Rising coverage. If you want to flashback to 2019, you can read the short quote that TwoLips provided me. 

Song Spotlight: Eleven Green's Fixed Tool (a night at Hotel Ziggy)

When random encounters happen, you've got to mention it. The setup is that I caught Eleven Green on the Tuesday night prior to Thanksgiving. The band was playing a WFNM night at Hotel Ziggy. Fast forward to Black Friday. I was at Best Buy picking up an external hard drive to store all the photos and videos I take of the Los Angeles music scene. After being handed the external hard drive, I did a beeline towards the exit. Walking right past me was the lead singer, Nare Nikoyan. I didn't know her name at the time of this random encounter so I yell out, "Eleven Green." She turns and I told her that I saw her Wednesday night. She looked slightly confused, perhaps because I got the days messed up. I saw the band on Tuesday night. My excuse is that I went to Hotel Ziggy on both Tuesday and Wednesday night. I added, "Hotel Ziggy. I was one of the photographers." 

Eleven Green at Hotel Ziggy

Song Spotlight: Dove Armitage's Glass In Me (a night at the Fonda Theatre)

I've seen Dove Armitage (Quincy Larsen) twice this year. Interestingly enough, she was opening on nights that I was covering for US Rocker Music. In October, she was opening up for Sunflower Bean at Zebulon. In December, she was playing The Fonda Theatre in support for Zaho de Sagazan. To clarify, the year 2024 is not the first time I've come across Dove Armitage or, for that matter, Larsen. 

Dove Armitage at The Fonda Theatre

Song Spotlight: Beck Pete's Scared of Everything (a night at Hotel Ziggy)

I first came across Beck Pete at El Cid in 2019. It wasn't a full set. El Cid double booked the day and so the bands playing in the afternoon were all restricted to 20 minutes or less. In fact, the last band of the night played maybe less than 10 minutes. 

Beck Pete at Hotel Ziggy

Night Talks' Running On A Cloud (a night at Hotel Ziggy)

Like many a band, my first introduction to Night Talks happened at a venue now since closed called the Bootleg Theater. It was July 2016. I then caught the band a month later at Chinatown Summer Nights. That was a fun weekend of music. Echo Park Rising and Chinatown Summer Nights were both on that same weekend so I spent Friday night at Echo Park Rising, Saturday night at Chinatown Summer Nights, and Sunday night back at Echo Park Rising. 

Night Talks at Hotel Ziggy

Notes from Vivace Show Alerts (Los Angeles): Jan 5th - Jan 11th

A Handful of Show Alerts 

Sunday Jan 5th: Ben Reddell at Club Tee. Doors at 8 p.m.
You can read about the artist on US Rocker Music when he played Americana West Fest 2024.

Monday Jan 6th: Maybellene Ryder and Allegra Ondine at Harvard & Stone. Doors at 8 p.m.
The two are playing individual sets on Monday, but I did catch their band Paradise Lovers back in August 2023. I also happened to catch Ryder playing violin for a band called Oh, Rose at the Shrine. I wrote a review of that night on US Rocker Music, which you can read here.

Wednesday Jan 8th: Kat French at Hotel Ziggy. Doors at 7 p.m.
You can read my NFV Song Spotlight of "Casket" here.

Cancelled: Thursday Jan 9th: Paper Citizen at The Escondite. Doors either 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.

I caught a Paper Citizen set back in 2022 and did a review and photo gallery for Buzzbands that you can see here.

Cancelled: Friday Jan 10th: Emily Rose & the Rounders at Zebulon. Doors at 7 p.m.

You can read about the band on US Rocker Music when they played Americana West Fest 2024.

Cancelled: Saturday Jan 11th: Osnova at Gold-Diggers. Doors at 7 p.m.

The band was one of my favorite "new to me, but maybe not to you" bands of 2024.

Cancelled: Saturday Jan 11th: Gottlieb at The Haven. Doors at 5:30 p.m.

The band was one of my favorite "new to me, but maybe not to you" bands of 2024.

Song Spotlight: Mikayla McLean's Run! (a night at Hotel Ziggy)

Who has to rank as one of the bands / singers most happy about being invited to play the WFNM stage? Mikayla McLean who recently played Hotel Ziggy has to make that list. She said towards the end of the set while thanking WFNM, "[thanks for] letting me jump onboard last minute. I've been scheming and trying to get on stage." Someone dropped out at the last minute and she jumped onboard and put on a wonderful set. 

Mikayla McLean at Hotel Ziggy

Rocco DeLuca Blends Genres for His Birthday Set at Zebulon

A couple days after Christmas, Rocco DeLuca played a set at Zebulon. It was to celebrate his birthday. He was joined on stage by Liberate Elemental Forces, which is an Indian raga collective. Zebulon had what I call their "Hotel Cafe" setup going. Seats and round tables were setup near the stage with standing room behind. The night initially started with an instrumental opening with DeLuca playing his steel guitar and two friends on stage with one playing guitar and the other playing an upright bass.

Rocco DeLuca at Zebulon

2024 List of Favorite New Bands and Singers (new to me, but maybe not to you)

My annual list of favorite new bands and singers: new to me, but maybe not to you. The Top 20 in alphabetical order.

1: Local music festivals: Americana West Music Fest, Echo Park Rising, Happy Sundays Long Beach, No Earbuds Fest.

To me, there’s nothing better than a DIY music scene festival. The Americana West Music Fest was all Americana and country with Los Rock Angels and Tristan Lake Leabu catching my “new to me” fancy. I only saw two or three songs of Fangbanger, but their stage show had me the moment I found myself having to squeeze through a packed Echo Park Rising venue. Though technically not part of Echo Park Rising, the Sunday lineup at Sticky Rice had Deathchant blasting the ear drums. NÜTT, I’m surprised I didn’t leave Happy Sundays Long Beach with a broken back due to all the mosh pit pounding I took. No Earbuds had the unexpected energy from Perennial and the vibes of Queen of Jeans.

Notes from Vivace Show Alerts (Los Angeles): Dec 29th - Jan 4th

A Handful of Show Alerts 

Sunday Dec 29th: El Colmo at Zebulon. Doors at 6 p.m.
You can read my review of their set on US Rocker Music here.

Sunday Dec 29th: Soft Palms at Club Tee Gee. Doors at 8 p.m.

You can read my US Rocker Music review of their Happy Sundays Long Beach set here.

Tuesday Dec 31st: Blaze Franscisco at The Redwood Bar. Doors at 4 p.m.
One of the band members is Liza Light. You can read my review of her song "To the Dream" here.

Friday January 3rd: Shane Alexander at Permanent Records Roadhouse. Doors at 6 p.m.

Shane Alexander played the Americana West Fest in 2024. You can read my review of that festival on US Rocker Music here.

Saturday January 4th: Primer at Permanent Records Roadhouse. Doors at 9 p.m.

You can read my review of Primer's release party for US Rocker Music here.

Thursday, January 2nd to Saturday January 4th: The Smell's 27th anniversary. Doors at 8 p.m. each night. 

Song Spotlight: Jordan Gruver's Without Loving You (a night at Hotel Ziggy)

I wrote this about how I first came across Jordan Gruver on Instagram back in early September:

"I thought I first came across Jordan Gruver back in July at Club Tee Gee. That turned out not to be accurate. I was scanning through my list of bands / artists that I saw in 2023 to do some quick research about when I last saw another band. As I was scanning through, Gruver’s name popped up. I was a bit surprised. And then I remembered the night. I was invited to photograph a trio of bands at Hotel Cafe. I got there a touch early and caught a song or maybe just half a song by Gruver. At the time, I remember thinking that I really needed to catch a full set as I loved the song and so I added the name to my list of bands / artists I’d seen. Well, I obviously forgot about my desire to catch a full set – in my defense, I see way too many bands / artists. Flash forward a few months and it happened by random and I totally didn’t recall that moment back in 2023 until a couple days ago." 

Jordan Gruver at Hotel Ziggy