Great Northern, Shadow Shadow Shade and Useless Keys at Satellite

It was off to Satellite to catch Useless Keys, Great Northern and Shadow Shadow Shade.

Useless Keys started the night off. The first thing noticed was the heavy use of the smoke machine. In fact, at certain points during the night, you could barely see the bands playing. Useless Keys rocked us out during their 30 minute set.

Next up was Great Northern. Now they are one of my favorite local bands and this was one of their first sets after about an 18 month sabbatical. My anticipation was high and they didn't let me down.

Comment of the night from Great Northern: Time to take the gum out.

Comment two of the night from Great Northern: Let's leave it up to the Smoke Room . . . It's like an 80s music video.

Closing out the night for me was Shadow Shadow Shade. The sound guys seemed to have to spend a longer time than normal trying to get the stage set for them -- too many microphones. I could see the band members peaking out from behind the door, checking to see if they were able to start their set.

Comment of the night from Shadow Shadow Shade: I'd give you a sign, but I can't see you through the smoke.

Comment two of the night from Shadow Shadow Shade: Can we have more smoke? (And on the far end of the stage, I could see one member of the band shaking her head in disagreement with the idea.)

Randomness. I was walking around Satellite and noticed a huge puddle of beer spilled near the back of the floor area. And then during Shadow Shadow Shade's set, one of the guys knocked over a glass of beer. He tapped his band mate on the shoulder to give him a heads up that if he walked backwards he'd be walking into a pool of beer. Beer spill story.

The DJ played some Local Natives in between sets.

Useless Keys





Great Northern









Shadow Shadow Shade

A Movie Review: Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels. I'm not going to say that this is a great movie, but is it a fun movie? Yes. If during the awards season you found yourself wanting simple escapism, this would have been the movie for you. It was just fun watching Jack Black dealing with the craziness that had resulted from his encounter with the Bermuda Triangle.

Gardens & Villa, Hands and Family of the Year at Bootleg

It was off to the Bootleg to catch Gardens and Villa, Hands and Family of the Year. First off was the fact that Bootleg had us enter via a new entrance. I wonder if that will be an ongoing deal. It probably reduces the noise pollution in the neighborhood so perhaps so.

Gardens & Villa started off the night. Their myspace page calls their sound turntablism. I can get behind that, but I’d add into that mix a use of Peruvian flutes. It all works wonderfully together. I’m making a mental note to check them out again.

Hands went on stage next. A friend of theirs was celebrating her birthday. In celebration, a lot of dancing was does near the stage.

Closing out the night was Family of the Year. I last saw them during their Silverlake Lounge residency. I believe that was the night where I also first saw The Lonely Wild. Their set started off with them rocking, which took me back a little. For some reason, I remembered them being much more folk-music oriented. As their set progressed, they shifted to their folk-music sound. Really just a solid set.

Comment of the night: Like a school teacher.

Gardens & Villa







Hands







Family of the Year

A Movie Review: It's Kind of a Funny Story

It's Kind of a Funny Story. Though I thought the actors in this movie did a great job (Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis), I just can’t recommend this movie. Maybe I was just too tired while watching it, it being a Sunday evening. I just don’t think the movie really went anywhere. You’re in a medical ward, you find young love, you have people with fears and mental disorders, whatever, was there really any serious story line? It just didn’t work for me. Sorry. I’m not even sure I believed that Keir Gilchrist and Emma Roberts really liked each other – even though if I were Craig (Keir Gilchrist), I’d be head over heels in love with Noelle (Emma Roberts). And for some reason, I just didn’t buy the friendship that developed between Craig and Bobby (Zach Galifianakis).

Lucy Schwartz and The Fling at Satellite/Spaceland

If was off to Satellite/Spaceland to check out Lucy Schwartz and The Fling.

A friend and I are big fans of Lucy Schwartz and so it was a guarantee that we were heading out to Satellite on a recent Monday night.

Comment one: I see I have some werewolf friends out there tonight.

Comment two (after singing Graveyard): Thank you for the spooky light show.

Interesting note it that she grew up with the Belle Brigade siblings.

I do believe she won over the crowd. Of course, I'm not sure how she couldn't.

A couple of the members from Raining Jane backed her up on stage. And I guess you could say the audience played the backup role for one song.

I stuck around for The Fling. As my friend noted, they have a late 70s sound. They rocked the last three songs of their set.

I wasn't able to stick around for Belle Brigade, but as we were leaving Satellite there was one long line of folks wanting to get inside. I'm not sure all of them made it inside. Based on my previous visit to Satellite, they are well worth seeing.


Lucy Schwartz









The Fling

Canage Asada, Million Kids and Hidden at Mr. T's Bowl

It was off to Mr T's Bowl to catch some bands Carnage Asada, Million Kids and Hidden.

The night focused in on Hidden. I've never seen them before, but I was informed that this was a re-union show and that this band played the scene in the early 2000s. They gave close to a 1 hr set. Carnage Asada was the first band up. You've got to love a punk band with a cello. Million Kids gave an enthusiastic performance.

Carnage Asada







Million Kids







Hidden

Belle Brigade, The Fling and Francisco the Man at Spaceland/Satellite

It was off to Spaceland/Satellite to see the dual residency bands of The Fling and The Belle Brigade. I also caught part of Francisco the Man. I knew there was going to be a line to get into Spaceland/Satellite. I'd seen it while driving by the previous Monday at 10 p.m. I just didn't realize I'd be waiting in line at 9:15 p.m. I did get to catch about half of Francisco the Man's set.

The Belle Brigade gave one cool set. At first, I wasn't totally into the music, but as soon as thier lead singer start bouncing all over the stage, I was sold. Just before one song, they invited a friend to model their t-shirts. He went up and then decided to stick around for one song to provide some interpretative dancing. He just stood there for about a minute, but than when the lead singer decided to dance with him, he went wild and the crowd went wild with him.

Of the times I've been to Spaceland on a Monday night, this felt like the first time the place has been "sold out" for awhile. The Fling and The Belle Brigade do have a following.

Francisco the Man





The Fling









Belle Brigade