The Hectors and The Lonely Wild at La Brie's

It was off to La Brie's to catch The Lonely Wild and The Hectors.

I walked over to La Brie's, which is close enough to my home.  I caught about half of The Hectors set.  For some reason, I think I saw them awhile back at The Airliner.  Up next was one of my favorite bands from last year, The Lonely Wild.  One of their vocalists, Jennifer, was off in New York and so they had a fill-in.  I wasn't sure how this would impact my experience, but I'll say they still gave one great set.  Their sound has shifted since I last saw them.  Previously, I found The Lonely Wild to have an understated beauty to their music.  Those strands are still there, but now some of their songs have a rock-kicking drive.  Still works wonders.  I swear by the end of April, I hope La Brie's is packed.  

The Hectors





The Lonely Wild

Brass Knuckle Voodoo, Barb Wire Dolls and The Mulhollands at On the Rox

It was off to On the Rox to catch The Mulhollands, Brass Knuckle Voodoo and Barb Wire Dolls.  It isn't often that I make it out to the Sunset Strip, but I was willing to make the trip for The Mulhollands and Barb Wire Dolls.

First up was Brass Knuckle Voodoo.  It was my first time seeing them.  They gave an energizing, sexualized- filled show.  As can be seen from one of the photos, a vibrated was involved and a young lady in the audience played around with it for a song (not x-rated).  And is Brass Knuckle Voodoo a Sunset Strip band name or what?  Barb Wire Dolls was up next.  This was my second time catching one of their sets.  I'd seen them previously when they were on the same bill as The Mulhollands.  They were the residency band for the month.  With a hot lead singer, they entertained the audience with some playful flirtation.  The Mulhollands ended the night.  I wasn't able to stay till the end of their set -- I had a meter running low.  Half a set, I say, is better than no set when dealing with the Mulhollands.    

Brass Knuckle Voodoo












lBarb Wire Dolls









The Mulhollands

A Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau. David Norris (Matt Damon) is a politician who randomly runs into Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) as he’s practicing his concession speech. This, according to his fate, wasn’t supposed to happen. The Adjustment Bureau comes in to make sure they never run into each other again, but an error is made and they do re-connect. And so we have a movie that delves into fate vs. free will, but also gives us some romance and action. I liked this movie though I thought the ending was a tad weak. I guess I should explain that. The movie leads you to the climax and then you’re supposed to accept the answer based on faith without any of the blanks filled in. I suppose this ending fits if this movie was real life, but since we are watching a movie I would have liked a better explanation to why the outcome made sense.

As for Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, they worked wonderfully together. There are moments where you question rather Elise would really follow David especially considering some of the torment (not totally his fault) he caused her, but the two actors make it work.

Honey Honey and Milo Greene at Bootleg

It was off to see Milo Greene and Honey Honey at Bootleg this past Monday.

Honey Honey is an awesome band, but what also makes them fun to see is listening to Suzanne Santo's one liners.  And so I was feeling a little disappointed as Suzanne seemed to be sticking to a low key night.  I was not to be disappointed as towards the end of their set the one liners started to flow:


"Hot guy on the guitar. Hot guy on the bass. Hot guy on the drums. We'll work it out later."

"That was fast, did you wash your hands."

Ah, the perfect night, the sounds of Honey Honey mixed in with the random thoughts of Suzanne.

Anyways, I was told that the line for Honey Honey stretched down the street.  One friend took off.  Another stayed in line and eventually made it into the venue.  He said that when Honey Honey was going on stage, The Bootleg finally let everyone in via a side door and if you could squeeze in, you could squeeze in.

It was a good thing that my friend waited, because Honey Honey gave us a set that was perhaps 1 hr 15 minutes.  I didn't even notice the time lapse until they left the stage and were called back for an encore.

And not to forget . . . Milo Greene started the night off for me.  Per them, this was their first official set.  For this being their first official set, they sounded and looked good, professional to say the least.  I wonder if most of them haven't been in previous bands. 

Milo Green







Honey Honey

A Movie Review: Just Go With It

Just Go With It. Here we have Danny (Adam Sandler) traumatized when he over-hears his bride bad mouthing him. There goes the wedding. He soon learns that by wearing his wedding ring, he can gain sympathy from women. It is a nice way to have a sex life, but it isn’t a way to have a long lasting relationship. His friend/confidant/employee, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) finds his actions deplorable. He then runs into Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) at a party and he feels she is the one, but unfortunately for him she finds the wedding ring – which he’d hidden. He makes up a story about an ex-wife. She demands to meet the ex-wife. He convinces Katherine to play the role of the ex-wife and so we have the title of the movie.

I didn’t find this movie at all entertaining. The first half of the movie just felt awkward. I felt like Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler just weren’t clicking. And honestly I thought Nick Swardson’s (Eddie) character was just painfully outside the context of the movie. And as for Brooklyn Decker, she plays a sweet person who is also a teacher and she’s treated rather badly in the end. Skip it.

Chop Chop at the Altadena Music Festival

It was off to the Altadena Music Festival to catch Chop Chop.  The bassist is part of the intraffik.com family.  The lead singer loves to shoot off four letter words.  With young kids in the audience, her band mates had to remind her to watch her manners.  I didn't stick too long after Chop Chop.  I had a birthday party to attend.  Chop Chop will be having a CD release party on April 10th at Eagle Rock All Star Lanes.

A Movie Review: Eat Pray Love

Eat Pray Love. First off, I saw this movie while flying from Chicago to Los Angeles. Okay, I'm a Julia Roberts fan, but oh mercy what a boring movie. A search for the meaning of life that could only be discovered by someone who either has money or a job that allows for someone to take a year away from work. I would suspect that only a small minority of folks at the age of around 34 has the ability to escape from life. And in the end was there any meaning delivered from the movie? I have no clue.

It was off to The Mime to catch The Unstoppable Death Machines, J-Cocks and Stab City

It was off to The Mime to catch The Unstoppable Death Machines, J-Cocks and Stab City.  First off, for those who don't know, The Mime is at 1840 Glendale Blvd in Echo Park.  The Mime does have a blogspot, but it doesn't seem to be kept up to date.  Is this turning into the new Echo Curio?  Who knows.  It seems like it is all ages.  High school kids on up.

When I arrived, I ran into some friends who were also heading in.  The first band up was The Unstoppable Death Machines.  They're from New York.  They showed us Californians something about New York.  I only caught their last two songs, but I knew I'd missed a great set.  As they ended their set, they took their drum set and passed it around so that folks in the audience to keep the beat.  J-Cocks were next up, giving the audience enough inspiration to go for a mosh pit.  To end the night for me, we had the always enjoyable Stab City.  Two of the guys in the J-Cocks are also in Stab City so some double duty for them.   


The Unstoppable Death Machines







J-Cocks






Stab City

It was off to Satellite to catch Blood Group and Living Things

I'm in one of my hibernation moods, which is resulting in me not going out to catch live bands as much as normal. Probably weather related . . . and admittedly work related. On Monday; however, I did drop by Satellite to catch Blood Group and Living Things.

When entering Satellite I noticed that the 10 p.m. band was called Blood Group.  Hmm . . . some crazy blood spitting band playing Satellite?  They looked rather normal when I saw them getting ready on stage.  They had some equipment problems due to the rain and it took them close to 45 minutes to set up.  Instead of some blood spitting band, they are an electro band.  And they're from Iceland.  I don't think I've ever seen a band from Iceland.  It also looked like they had a friend or two along for the US ride.  Danceable music.

Due to the late start of Blood Group, I only stayed for about half of Living Things. Solid rock set.  From doing a little research on Facebook, these guys are from Missouri.  I guess when I mentioned not having heard of them in another blog posting from a couple weeks ago, I had a good excuse.  Thumbs up to Satellie for occasionally breaking out of the grip of the Silverlake-Echo Park music sound.  Unfortunately, the audience tends to dwindle on Mondays when they take the risk, but it is cool that they occasionally bring us different music genres for Residency Mondays.

Blood Group









Living Things

A Movie Review: 127 Hours

127 Hours. I honestly don’t know if this movie deserved a best picture nod. It may have had something to do with me seeing it in an airplane versus a movie theatre. James Franco as Aron Ralston does a great job as you can see his mood swings from brief moments of panic to resignation to determination and everything in between. The cutting off of his arm is rather gruesome, but luckily there are some cut away shots so that the camera just doesn’t focus in on this obviously torturous process.

A Movie Revie: Secretariat

Secretariat. The first thing I thought about when seeing this movie was to compare it to Seabiscuit. Though it has been awhile since I saw Seabiscuit, I say that movie ranks high above Secretariat. Secretariat isn’t a bad movie; however. I enjoyed it. The movie is highlighted by Diane Lane (Penny Chenery) as a woman determined to keep her father’s legacy alive. She makes an all in bet and wins. And considering that she was playing in a world dominated by men, it was all the more impressive.

I did do some research on the movie. There are some discrepancies between reality and the movie screen. I'd say nothing too big here.

Paul Feliciano, Secretariat’s first jockey, lasted two races, not one.

In the Wood Memorial where Sham comes into the picture, Sham finished second, not first. Secretariat came in third.

And though it didn’t seem to be emphasized in the movie, Sham faded to last in the Belmont. The jockey ran his horse too hard keeping up with Secretariat.

The Wild Feathers and Honey Honey at Bootleg

It was off to Bootleg to catch Honey Honey and The Wild Feathers. The Wild Feathers was a big surprise for the night.  There wasn't a link to their band page on the Fold's website and I didn't take the time to do any research on my own so I wasn't sure what to expect.  What a nice surprise. I loved them and so did the crowd.  I'm not sure the band realized how much the crowd like them.  Someone from the audience yelled out, "Where you all from?"  The response, "Some of us are from Tennessee . . ."  "No, seriously."  "Hollywood."  Their Facebook page doesn't have much info on them.  Hopefully that changes.

Honey Honey gave us a one hour set.  You heard that right, one hour.   I swear they're probably one of the few local Los Angeles bands that can pull off something like that.  For a lot of bands, they're pushing by going 30 minutes. 

Listening to Suzanne Santos rambling in between their songs is always a highlight of any Honey Honey set.

On telling a Ben Jaffe story that he wanted to tell on his own, "But I tell it so much better."
When Ben broke a guitar string, "But I think I will keep awkwardly talking."
On asked if she was feeling hot on stage, "I'm sweating like a whore in church."

Honey Honey had the stage decorated Western-style.  

They were thinking about setting up a kissing booth to collect money for Japan.  Hmm . . .

The Wild Feathers





Honey Honey

A Movie Review: Life as we know it

Life as We Know It. I found this to be a sick movie. The very set-up of this comedy is sick. The parents die so that two people can fall in love and raise a daughter together. There are some amusing moments in the movie. It is like eating some fun little sweats and then you realize towards the end of the movie that the premise is based on a depressing set of circumstance and you want to die.