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4:27 PM
Music: Comets on Fire
I wasn't going to say anything because it's not really worth it but...... Paul Westerberg was super boring to see LIVE! I'm hearing here and there that he was even a boring front guy in The Replacements. he writes some excellent songs but doesn't sing the best ones LIVE!! I only wanted to hear one of two songs the other night and he didn't do 'em. "unsatisfied" and "answering machine" at least Jon Brion will do "unsatisfied" on any given Friday night largo show.
yep, so Paul is boring.
I'm looking forward to seeing Brian Jonestown Massacre tomorrow night at spaceland then Jason Falkner on Thursday at spaceland.
* in other news, I just read that Dead Meadow are going to be back in April. YAY!
p.s. my home computer is in the shop right now, so I can't really check my e-mail or upload any photos until I get it back.
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1:31 AM
Rock 'n Fucking Roll Baby!
http://www.echo.co.uk/TheVacation/VIDEO/thev006_rtsp_300.wmv
that's what tonight was all about. The Vacation stood out like .... no, not a sore thumb .... more like a fucking amazing rock 'n roll band that could be playing huge arena's already. It's as if they are destined to be stars. I guess I wasn't listening all that much when they played at that dinky pub in HB but tonight I couldn't help but hear everything, it was LOUD! I had a smile on my face the whole time, it was so much fun. It's really hard to explain. I'm not going to try right now because it's just about 2am and i have to get up in 5 1/2 hours, it's going to take me awhile to get to sleep ... being so amped and all.
g'nite for now.....
mornin’ or should I say afternoon….
The Gun Shys hit the stage first and it took a song or two for them to warm up. They are a good rock band with lots of potential for bigger and better things to come. They are a three piece band. The singer ‘Kyle’ sings and plays the guitar. Then you have Cliff, the bass player from The Shore. I really like these guys – they have that whole glam 70’s punk look going on along with the attitude and sound.
The S’chool Girls came on next complete with a major glam attitude that wasn’t big enough for the room. I wasn’t expecting to like them as much as I did because I’ve seen them a few times in the past and was kind of sick of there whole shtick. Man, they rocked. It was like seeing “insert famous 70’s glitter, glam band here” all over again. They added another guitar player which added to the sound, maybe that’s why I enjoyed it more, I don’t know. If you didn’t attend any type of glitter – glam – gig back in the 70’s then for sure you would love to see The S’chool Girls and it would be fresh to you. It’s a good time.
The Vacation…. “…… I’m in love and I like it loud!!” These guys write some really great, catchy lyrics. I've been seeing these guys for years and they have a ton of new songs which I really dig.
It was a loud punk-rock-iggy-pop-rolling-stones kind of set.
Ben (The Vacation) is such a great entertainer! He screams loud! He sings with passion! And his looks are impeccable.
Of course Steve, Dutch and Denny are all excellent as well. Denny is the new/ old drummer from when they were called The Sons a few years ago.
at one point during the show, Ben was stealing some girls drink and pouring it on his head then Brady (Frisky Jones) kept touching Ben and trying to unbutton his pants…. Ben stepped back and his foot fell in between the stage and the amp and I thought "oh my god" he got hurt – he didn’t limp or anything so that’s good. One of my favorite songs they do is called "Make up your mind" it's the one that gets everyone in the place in the mood for fun if they aren't already.
The curtains went down and the show was over….. all of a sudden Ben walks out and makes them pull up the curtain and turn the microphones back on and he invited all of his friends (Gun Shys, S'chool Girls and Brady) on stage and they did a funny rockin’ version of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the noise”.
needless to say it was very sloppy but fun none the less.
You really should check out The Vacation live! Go to their website or myspace.com to check out their profile and hear some songs they have up. Also check out The Gunshys new website, it's up an running and more photos should be up soon. they are on myspace.com as well.
I’m really looking forward to seeing The Vacation open up for Graham Coxon (Blur). I’ve been listening to Graham’s new solo CD for two weeks straight and it’s so diverse. Some of his songs are bluesy and others kinda punky-rock. Song number 7 is my favorite “people of the universe” that’s what I call it anyway.
I will be posting more photos on my photo page by the end of the weekend...
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4:41 PM
Movies: Riding Giants…. A surfing documentary by the same person who did Dogtown and Z boys. (so good!)
Lately I haven’t cared about anything….. I need some inspiration. I’ve been watching movies at home via netflix. It’s a good thing to do with all the rain we have been getting lately. I can’t believe all the flooding, it’s crazy.I was really impressed with Riding Giants. It made me feel more respect for the surfers. It portrayed them as more then just your typical beach bum that goes around shouting “dude” all the time.
Though it didn’t make me want to go surfing as Dogtown made me want to ride a skateboard, it was a well done documentary none the less.
I’ve been pondering “cancer” an awful lot lately. It’s all around me….in all different forms. I just found out my friend has stomach cancer, he’s only twenty-something! Also while I was hanging out alone at spaceland waiting for The Uptown Lights to hit the stage, this guy who works there came over and we got to talking and somehow he came to tell me he had testicular cancer. Don’t ask me how it came out, I guess I’m the type of person who certain types of people feel they can tell me anything. This is true regardless.
The way I found out about the one with the stomach cancer was …… My friend and I were on our way to BBC for tacos and beer and I asked how Kim was doing and then she tells me about Jeff (stomach cancer).
It’s fucking terrible! I think this is a pretty bad type of cancer to.
I really hope everyone keeps high spirits through all this and I’m here if anyone wants to hang out and talk and or listen.
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speaking of cancer, did anyone see the grammys? Melissa Etheridge tore it up, blew joss stone off the stage! She is an amazing woman, just to go up there on stage without a wig and seemed to not really care what she looked like and she looked tuff! of course the camera's had to pan in on Ellen and Porche as soon as Melissa was done singing. I also got to see the infamous "heineken commercial" with The Vacation in it. It's the one where the guy drops the top part of the load during his delivery to a bar and it pans out to people doing different things all around the world and they all stop what they were doing and just stare into space .... one couple was in bed and the guy just lays there and the girl asks whats wrong and he said he felt "sad" for some reason. she tried to touch him and he said "don't" it was funny. The Vacation were in the studio and it shows ben as he stops singing and stares up at the ceiling. i love beer commercials!!
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In other happenings…. The Uptown Lights were pretty good although I had a not so hot experience at spaceland that night. First I wasn’t on the list as I was told I would be, not such a big deal – luckily I had the money and It wasn’t sold out as announced on the web-site! The girl working the front hates me for some reason. Hates me!? I have done nothing. I don’t get people most of the time. The door guy is very nice and when I was a regular, he would let me in free.
I don’t ever expect anything from anyone but it’s nice when someone acknowledges that you come a lot and at least gives you a smile. Fucking Hollywood hipster fuckers. Of course I write all this with a smile on my face. I’m not really angry.
It was way to hot in there I mean what is up with the air conditioner? Though it was raining outside it was a hundred degrees inside. Plus it was packed to the rafters. It was the ugliest crowd I’d ever seen. Why am I so mean, and judgmental? I really hate that about myself but sometimes you just pick up these kinds of traits from your friends. You have to admit that It can be funny sometimes. I know I’m not perfect – way far from it. Greg Duili sang a lot of covers and it was less rockin’ then the Afghan Whigs. I love his voice anyway. The last song in my opinion was the best…. He ended with “Ohh La La” by The Faces. WOW!
It was a rainy weekend but I headed to Huntington Beach to see The Vacation anyway. HB? You say. Yeah – weird – I know. I was the only person that came to see them besides the few people they came with from LA. When I arrived they were sitting at a table full of there left over food they were served as part payment from this Irish Pub.
They looked like they didn’t belong. That’s ok, I wouldn’t want to look like I belonged at this place either. The crowd was your typical Huntington Beach “Bro” crowd complete with blonde bimbos (me excluded, of course).
It was nice to get to hang with the band and talk to all of them without the whole “Hollywood scene” going on around us though. They were supposed to play at 10:30 but they didn’t take the tiny stage until around 11:30. The people that were at the bar seemed the type that just came there for a drink and didn’t know anyone was playing or maybe they were expecting some singer/ songwriter to be playing acoustically.
As soon as they started there was this couple that was sitting closest to them having a beer, the girl had her chair turned so her back was to them, she didn’t even look at them. I think Ben (singer) scared her or something because they left before the first song was even over. It’s a good thing though because later Ben was standing on their table and pouring the wax from their candle all over his chest. He knocked over a few empty beer bottles as well.
One girl who looked as though she was going to go “girls gone wild” on them loved the attention Ben was giving to her while he was singing “destitute prostitute” in her face. That was great! Her boyfriend didn’t seem to like it though. She and her little friends wanted to take Ben home. All and all The Vacation added a few more fans to their list, as they would anywhere they play anyway. They are playing tonight with The Gun Shys and The S’chool girls at club King King in LA. I’m looking forward to it.
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11:03 AM
Music: Captain Beefheart (safe as milk)
I had a very nice weekend starting on Thursday night when I went out with my friend Stephanie - we went to junior high and high school together also worked at flipside magazine, and had a band together - all out of high school. she was my punk rock buddy. We went to see The Evens which is Ian MacKaye from Fugazi. It wasn't good but it was fun to catch up with Steph none the less. We drank under the stairs waiting for the awful opening band to finish. We didn't want Ian to see us drinking because he is straight edge and all...... they didn't have beer inside the gallary so we had to brown bag it from the local supermarket.
It was just Ian playing guitar / bass and singing and a girl on drums and boy was she bad... worse then me and thats fucking really bad! Ian had his good moments where he rocked out and it sorta felt fugazi-ish but not quite.
Friday was interesting....I was on my way to The Largo to see Jon Brion when I noticed that the block where The Largo was on Fairfax was pitch black. I'm like, oh no! what happened! dispite the dark street, there was a line. My friends were at the front so I hung with them getting in a worse mood due to hunger and thinking that if there is no power there will be no food served. Flanny comes out saying "susie, susie susie" and I said "get those lights back on i'm hungry!" soon after he tells us that no one can come in until the power comes on and he will wait until 9pm then call it a night. needless to say we were dismissed. I hear that Jon is going to make up for it next Tuesday the 22nd. If he plays his normal time until 2am, I'm not going to be able to make it.
Saturday I spent a lot of money on DVD's, shoes and books. why? because I was bored. at this rate I will never move back to Long Beach or LA as I planned! That night I went to see one of my favorite head banger/heavy guitar, drums, noise bands called COMETS ON FIRE. Once again I was blown away. I didn't want the night to end. They were fucking amazing as were all the opening bands who played one song each lasting 1/2 hour each. I think I'm alone when I say that I like jam bands. some of the bands were improvising which was just alright but listening to the others ... it was like I was in a zone, and they had it all planned that way. the bands that I can remember were called (improvised 2 man band) open city, (from San Francisco - a heavy psychedelic band with only bass and drums - with members of sleep) OM, and earthless.
I was hanging out with The Dirty Little Secrets (a young good band from OC) and we were all up front during Comets on Fire when these fuckheads that smelled really bad came up and pushed me and skky out of the way. I was pissed because I had my camera. I took a lot of photos already so I wasn't really that upset, it's just I hate fuckheads that don't care about whats going on around them. I stood behind them and pushed them when they bumped into me. I didn't want to move because the place was so packed, anywhere else I wouldn't have been able to see anything. It was such a rockin' show, unbelievable. a top 20 for me! It's up there with Dead Meadow, The Warlocks, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Hunches. If we are talking about the heavy stuff that leaves you hardly breathing afterwards.
Sunday I went to see Jessie Sykes at a Free In-Store at Fingerprints. What a beautiful voice she has. I got chills just watching her and noticing how much she resembles Emmylou Harris and she does have the Gram Parsons feel to her music. I don't understand the connection with her opening for Bright Eyes though... he's got that winey thing going on. I'm trying to get into Bright Eyes, but finding it hard. A friend of mine said to listen to the words. Okay, I'll give it another go. Later that night I went to see The Dirty Little Secrets at Que Sera in Long Beach. Opening for them was Voodoo, a couple who play The Cramps style music - almost white stripes looking but not quite. she only had a bass drum and snare (ala blacktops) and he sang and played guitar. I knew the guy from a long time ago and it was bugging me.... It turns out it was/is Max from the band Spiderbabies from about 15 years ago then he was in Lords of Altamont for awhile. We knew each other but couldn't place where. They were pretty cool to see. Then a band called The Last Gang played which featured Johnny from The Dirty Little Secrets on bass with his wife/girlfriend singing and playing the guitar. They were pretty good for what it was. The vocals were down way to low for the first 1/2 of their set and when they fixed it, it sounded much better. They were fast and she sorta reminded me of courtney love. She had just played earlier that night at the Knitting Factory with her all girl band called Civet.
The Dirty Little Secrets get better everytime I see them. Skky has that 80's glam voice that I used to love so much back in the day and I think thats why I like them. Johnny has a cool voice also, I just can't figure out who he reminds me of. I'll have to take a listen to the free CD that they gave to me last night. They have new songs and one includes an organ which is really really cool.
alright it's Monday and I'm going to Spaceland to catch The Willowz and American Minor for FREE tonight. Tomorrow is Electric Eel Shock, a loud guitar driven noise band (from Japan) at the Silverlake Lounge playing with The Thieves (Nina's "the drummer's" band)
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11:10 AM
movie: 24 hour party people
It was another long night at the largo on Friday. Jon Brion, once again proved that he is the master of his craft -a musical genius! He opened with one of my favorite songs he's ever written besides happy with you , on a roll with you... called Under the radar. It just rocks... it's bitter and exciting and he just goes off on the guitar and drums, i love it! He also did a wonderful version of "Same Mistake" then a piano bit which he usually starts out with. I guess we know how the rest of the night will be by what he opens with. in this case it was one of the most rockin' sets he's ever done. there was only 3 of us largo regulars there (new and old) to witness such an amazing gig. I sat next to a new "new" guy, new to the largo scene.... it's always fun hanging with the new people that haven't seen Jon before just to see their reaction to Jon's set.
so, yeah..... Jon Brion had E from the eels open up for him. what a strange looking man, he is. i love him though. his voice is like no other. he has a very depressed way about him and his singing. he wasn't on stage for to long then Collin Hay from men at work came up. looking at his eye just fucks me up.... it's freaky. anyway, the guy has a great voice and i enjoyed most of his songs but i really wanted to see Jon Brion.
moving on to last night - Saturday. i invited some people to meet me at the standard for some $7 dollar beers and $5 dollar fries and no wonder no one shows up! ha ha. i'm telling you these fries are so good! My friend Skky and Rick were the only ones up to hanging at the standard then seeing a $10 dollar secret Beck show on this beautiful Saturday. Skky and I headed to the standard around 3pm. it wasn't crowded yet and we were able to obtain an empty waterbed. wait! that sounded wrong...... ok, the standard has this roof with a beautiful view of LA, a pool, a bar, comfy couches, a dance floor and a fireplace - oh and some round waterbeds near the pool that you can kick back in/on. so we are hanging out on the water bed talking and finally rick shows up and it was a threesome (kidding) we had guinness and fries, the waitress brought me another guiness which i didn't order, especially on an empty stomach so she first offered to take it back which I said yes please then she said thats ok, you can have it, i won't charge you for it. i handed it to Skky.
We left around 5 so we can get our Beck ticket by 6pm at club 1650. we get there and the line was around the corner. after standing in line for about 1/2 hour we get our tickets and there were still about 100 or more people behind us and as soon as we were walking down the street heading for Mel's Diner we hear the guy yell out that it's sold out! Phew!! we were lucky and excited. I mean... Beck for $10 dollars in a small place, you can't beat that. I missed all of his other secret shows at spaceland and the echo in the past.
I've never been to Mel's diner before either, it was pretty neat. it was burgers and fries all around except for me and my veggie burger of course. i had a great time hanging out and talking about all sorts of music with skky and rick. i always find it refreshing when people know so much about music and i'm following along and know what they are talking about. not that i would ever hang out with someone with terrible taste in music anyway. i'm just saying.....
on to the show. of couse there was a huge line to get in the club. it moved pretty fast and before you knew it, we were in....... listening to this godawful DJ spinning the most horrific loud crappy thumping shit i've ever heard in my life. i felt as though i'd just walked into a Rave. it was non-stop, i couldn't breathe or talk because there was no "inbetween" songs at all. we got a great standing spot near the side of the stage with a perfect view and we stood there looking at each other and laughing because the music and crowd was just so rediculous. when the show started this guy gets on stage and i'm thinking it's just this really old, fat gross announcer guy that was going to announce BECK but nope! it was Har Mar Superstar. what the fuck! who names themselves that? This guy has less talent then Ashly Simpson lipsynching. i don't know why but the first thing i thought of is text messaging my friend to tell him how awful this guy was and i got a text back with full agreement! I don't get his shtick. I see that it may be a joke, even it's its a joke about a joke, it's totally un-funny and it sucks. the guy has man-boobs! c'mon!
the crowd was totally lame... i think they all come to that club on dance night or something. they just reminded me of the type of crowd that would go to these thumping dance clubs where you have to yell to talk to someone and they pick up on each other with cheesy lines and drink "girly" drinks. I was entertained by the napoleon dynamite dancing guy though. he had a fro' but the sides were shaved and he was white. amazing is the only word i can think of when i see him dancing.
Beck was great! I think I'm only into 1/2 of the new songs he did. I'll have to hear the record when it comes out. he did a song off of seachange "guess i'm doing fine", that was awesome, i simply love his voice! I absolutly love the new one called Guero, where he sings partially in spanish.... it's amazing and funny! a friend of mine sent it to me and i've been listening to it over and over again!
welp... that's it. It's Superbowl Sunday and I really don't care. I didn't even know who was in it until Rick told me yesterday. I'm gonna do laundry, bills and clean the house.
ps - i went to amoeba on sunday night..... one of the guys who works there announced that they were closing soon and now we can go home and watch the recap of the BASEBALL game or whatever it was that was on today.
everyone in the store was laughing.
now if they would only serve cocktails there, the place would be a mad hangout! it's like they already have great music playing and beautiful (guys and girls) working there. ya may as well have a cocktail then we can call it a party. now i have 2 crushes that work there. i went up to the trade counter and i get the cute guy to wait on me... he gave me more then i expected although it would have been better if he'd just given me his number instead.
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9:50 AM
Music: Neil Young
I've been on a Neil Young kick for awhile now and it made me really happy that on Friday night at the Largo, Jon Brion did a Neil Young song.
Lately I've been listening to (besides Neil) Ash, Pete Yorn and Al Green.
The weather has been so nice lately. You can see the snow on the mountains and from certain high points in LA you can see the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.... amazing!
If the weather remains nice this weekend (saturday) i'm thinking it might be fun to go have a drink and some fries at the standard.
I didn't do anything last saturday except watch movies at home. Sunday a friend and I went to Melrose, something I haven't done in a year or so. I have been on a hunt for work shoes for awhile and can't seem to find any and of course I find some in one of my two favorite places for shoes but they didn't have my size plus they were discontinued. bummer! I enjoy wearing my high heals to work but at the same time i'd like to find some cool doc type shoes.
I was in need of another big ring because mine finally died. I mean the stone finally fell apart after numerous times of banging it againsts hard surfaces. It was my favorite black ring!
So I went to the same place on Melrose that I bought it years ago and of course they didn't have it anymore. I did find another one as it's replacement but I'm still on the hunt for the original.
I had a ticket for Kings of Leon at will call that night and another friend of mine was on the list but couldn't make it so I tried to get her ticket but they wouldn't let me without her ID. I still had plenty of time to take my friend home and come back to see the gig but wasn't up for the packed Roxy, hanging out with all the kiddies. So, I sold my ticket and we went home. I felt that was a good decision and I'm not bummed at all. As we were walking around from Book Soup to Tower Records.... I see this really nice silver BMW as I walked in front of it, I noticed it was Vin Diesel........ grrrrrr! I love bald men even if they have a lame looking movie coming out. We looked at each other. I then told Monica "hey, Vin Diesel is right there" we both looked at him. It was silly. As soon as the light changed, he sped off like he was in the fast 'n furious!!
oh... back at the roxy while we were waiting for the box office to open I was sharing some stories with Monica from when I used to hang out at the Rainbow during my "big hair" days and what do you know...... Rikki Rocket (drummer from POISON) comes walking out of the rainbow and walks right by us. It was like a time warp with all the long hair, tight leather pants wearing metal guys walking out of there. Then you have the Key Club which is right down the street, it was goth night or something because all these 'GOTH' looking people kept walking by wearing all black, shoes that were so high - they couldn't walk in them - guys included, black lipstick and crazy eyes, it was rather entertaining.
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