11:32 AM

10:43 AM

12:05 PM

“…….not long for this world”

It’s a song by the way.
It’s fitting for the way I’m feeling lately.
I just got back from a long walk on my break at work, yeah so I took a 40 min break, listening to The Afghan Whigs “Gentlemen”. This is such a great album besides the lyrics and music, it has feeling. I actually had a tear in my eye. It’s partly because I’ve been feeling really emotional lately, and instead of hiding my sad emotions behind distorted fuzzy noisy music, I’ve opted to let it out and listen to a different type of emotional music.

I just found out that one of my good friends (Roger)… his mom is dying of terminal cancer and she only has one to six months to live. I can’t even begin to describe the sadness that I feel for them. I don’t know how I can help but tell him that I’m here for him.
Another friend of mine just went into the hospital for breast cancer surgery. It has been 6 months since she was diagnosed. I wish her well. What is it with this……. “cancer”….. I mean, why hasn’t anyone figured out how to cure it?

Another thing that has been on my mind lately is religion….. I’m not religious at all.

I don’t know one person who is a “PURE” religious person either. I had a conversation with a friend the other night as I’ve had with other people and we all agree that people don’t practice what they say they are. What really gets to me is the “born-again” Christians… what’s that all about? You can do something bad , I mean really bad, then the next day you are a full fledged god worshiper and preaching to those of us who have never done anything wrong - who aren’t of any religion?

I may not know much about religion but I’ve never killed anyone and then asked to be saved either. …. And the Catholics … what’s up with the whole (you can't be)living together without being married deal? Are you allowed to pick and choose from the different rules to follow and still call yourself a Catholic and go to church?
Am I wrong? Tell me I’m wrong! Go on… tell me!

I don’t know where all that came from…..

Relationships are hard aren’t they? Family, Friends, Lovers… It’s all a lot of work.

I don’t know why I even brought that up because I’m not going to go into detail about that kind of stuff on here. “… I’m in love with something that I can’t see”

May 19^th (Thursday) to May 25^th (Wednesday)

Thursday – Greg Behrendt “comedy” at the Largo
Friday – Jon Brion at Largo
Saturday – Sabrosa Purr at Spaceland

Sunday – Sons and Lovers, Dirty Little Secrets, The Last Gang at Zen Sushi

Monday - ?

Tuesday – The Brokedown at Troub.

Wednesday -?

MUSIC (R&S)

1) Spoon

2) Stereophonics

3) Sabrosa Purr

4) Reigning Sound

5) Rolling Stones

11:25 AM

I saw Brendan Benson at the Troubadour last Wednesday. It was just ok.
Not amazing or anything.
I was happy that I went after seeing Jack White get up on stage and sing with Mr. Benson.
Jack and Meg were just walking around the Troubadour. Jack looked ultra cool in his pinstriped suit and Bob Dylan hat, which he put on Brendan right before he left the stage. "
Brendan was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to do after that.

I know what I wanted but this was a Brendan Benson show not a White Stripes show. (heavy sigh)

Saturday I met some friends at the Cat & the fiddle before heading to the Derby to catch Sons and Lovers. I have to say I was pretty surprised to see Morrissey sitting at the table next to us. No one else noticed and I knew Roger was a huge fan of his so I leaned in to tell him and he seemed less then enthusiastic about the news. Strange. I told Sarah and Dat and they seemed excited but couldn’t turn around because that would be too obvious.
Later Morrissey and his lady friend moved to a bigger table away from the open where another guy joined them. I thought it was because we were being loud.

We went to Sarah and Dat’s place for awhile before heading to the gig. Dat played me some CD’s of his new and old bands. He is the bass player in a band with Donita Sparks -ex – L7 singer. Sounds pretty rockin’! They will play at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach soon.

Dat was in The Superbees, they were pretty big in LA before they broke up.

We all headed to The Derby to see (Jordan) Sarah’s brothers band called Sons and Lovers. Jordon is the bass player and his new vintage bass looks amazing!
I was surprised at how great they are live. I didn’t know what to expect…. You know….. going to see a friend's brother play in his new band and all. But wow! These guys have talent! The singer is all over the place and reminds me a little of Iggy Pop meets AC DC. Great tunes and fun to watch. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. I think that in no time they will be the talk of the LA underground scene.

Sunday I took my mom to the fish company for lunch then to a movie, we saw Crash. I really dug it. It was somewhat slow but very intense and informative.

May 12^th ~ May 20^th

HAPPENIN’ GIG’S

Thur ?

Fri Jon Brion

Sat Rhett Miller at Largo or Willowz at Chapman University or movie at cemetery

Sun The Colour at Troub

Mon The Walkmen at Galaxy

Tues Juliette ‘Lewis’ & the Licks at Troub (record release)

Wed The Binges at Dragonfly

Thur Greg Behrendt’s comedy at largo

Fri Icarus Line at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach

On the turn table….

Hi Fidelity soundtrack

Almost Famous soundtrack

Sabrosa Purr

4:41 PM

You know what song really rocks ….. it’s “lets build a house” by The White Stripes. There is just something very satisfying listening to Jack and Meg! I don’t believe there is one song that sucks on any of their albums! Not one!! It’s all raw rock ‘n roll blues…. Simple is sometimes, well… most of the times it’s better.
Radiohead is another of my favorites….. though they aren’t very “simple”. I feel that there is a lot of emotion in their songs, at least for me anyway.
I’ve been listening to the classic rock radio a lot lately for some reason…. perhaps because my ipod has been having problems with uploading songs and it’s just easier to switch on the radio. Which brings me to Bon Jovi, Journey, Missing Persons, DM, and Rick Springfield. All of these bands have a place in my heart – I’m talking “memories”. I love it when you hear something that gives you fond memories from the old days. They are all great bands. I just felt the need to mention that. Bon Jovi had some really great songs at one time. I think Journey is pretty classic.... very 'story- like' lyrics.

I was on my way home from somewhere…. It was 12:30 or so on Tuesday night when I heard The Vaction on 103.1, first it was Ben saying “hey, this is Ben from The Vacation and you’re listening to 103.1” and they played White Noise. A great little dirt rock number. It is an exciting feeling to hear your friends on the radio! 103.1 is a pretty cool station that plays all sorts of local bands, it’s almost as if they really care… if you can imagine.

For once I actually did everything on my rock schedule from the past week. Usually I only go to one or maybe two of the shows I have listed.
I went to see The Vacation on Wednesday and then again on Thursday then Jon Brion on Friday and Grant Lee on Saturday.

The Vacation played with this band from London called The Thieves. Wow! They rocked. The singer even had a broken foot or something and had to sit on a stool the whole time, I could tell he is crazy on stage though, he couldn’t keep still. They had this raw energy that sorta reminded me of old Nirvana.. I don’t know, I need to see them again though. At the end of their set the singer jumped backwards into the drum set. Just like Kurt did at Rajis when I saw them there!
Chelsea Smiles also played but I was so confused when they were on stage… I could have swarn that they had a keyboard player in their band! These guys were good and everything but just not what I remembered.
The Vacation … what can I say about them that I haven’t already said before. They played a lot of their newer songs which aren’t on the new cd called “band from world war zero”. Ben has a knack for catchy lyrics. Those Tegal boys have so much energy… with Steve's wailing guitar antics and Ben’s “stooges-esk” stage presence there is no way they could ever be boring or dull. No way!!
They are all about the audience having a good time, Ben will come right up to you and sing in your face. Either that or drink your beer.
Sebrosa Purr is my new favorite band - they came on around midnight. I only stayed for a few songs because I had to work the next morning.
This band is going to be big! They have a hard edge to them but I wouldn’t call it raw rock ‘n roll. I know I’ve been saying that everyone sounds like Nirvana lately but then again…they do have this Nirvana quality about them but with more drone. Kinda like a band I love called “The Darkside”.
I bought their 4 song demo CD and I can’t stop listening to it. One of of favorite tracks is called “God damn you” It rocks! The lyrics, the guitars, the mellow then screaming voice, the distortion….. it’s heaven! I have a feeling that they will be around for awhile, you should check them out!
2^nd night of The Vacation record release extravaganza was also amazing. cake in the face included! It's hard to determine which night I enjoyed more. I think Ben sprayed his beer better on the first night! So i'll go with that.
All hours, Frisky Jones and The Gunshys were also on the bill on Thursday night. The Gunshys had a different line up and I was surprised not to see Cliff (ex- Shore bass player, now ex-gunshys) in the band anymore but instead walking around the club. They were good none the less. Kyle, the singer is a good front person and he pretty much is the band with his sultry 70’s style. They put on a good show.
I was pretty tired from so much rock on Wednesday though.
All Hours played and I just wasn’t in the mood. I think I was expecting something different from them. Although they did a cover of a Lou Reed song that floored my friend Rick. They just didn’t do anything for me. I really wanted to stay to see Frisky Jones because I haven’t seen them in almost a year or so but i was to tired. I’m sure he rocked. I can say that he looks cool and oh so “80’s glam/metal” walking around .. ha ha. You can’t miss the cute kid walking around with bleached hair as if we was going to try out for GNR back in the 80’s. I’ll be sure and catch him the next time around.

Friday night of course I went to see Jon Brion, this time I took a friend and we had a table up front and personal like. Very cool indeed. I can only say it was amazing as usual. He surprised us with many cover songs and his genius like qualities. I love the way he smiles to himself when he really gets into his playing…. It’s as if he goes inside of himself and has to laugh at everything. Pure madness.

Saturday night I was back at the Largo to see Grant Lee Philips. Now this guy has so much talent it’s sickning. His songs are clever, he has a great sense of humor. Just an all around beautiful voice. Have I mentioned that he has had spots on The Gilmore Girls? Yeah, he plays a street musician on that show sometimes. Sabastian Bach has a gig on that show now. He plays a guitar player in Lane’s band. Ok, enough of the WB trivia.
Grant “melts my heart” when he plays…. I’ve been hearing that said term a lot lately from a friend of mine. I’m not sure that I like it. It doesn’t sound right now that I wrote it.

I didn’t go see Mark Lane on Sunday or The Brokedown on Tuesday. I am however going to see Brendan Benson tonight at the Troubadour, only because I bought a ticket awhile ago. Honestly I’d rather go home and sleep. It should be a good show though.

May 3^rd thru May 11^th

Tuesday – The Brokedown at Spaceland and /or Aimee Mann at Amoeba 7pm Free

Wednesday – Brendan Benson at Troubadour

Thursday - Rogers Birthday - say... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGER!!
Friday – Jon Brion at Largo or The Binges at Zen Sushi

Saturday - hang out at the cat & the fiddle at 6pm then go see Sons and Lovers at The Derby.

Sunday - Happy Mom's Day! - hangin' with my mom.

Monday – The Binges at The Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach

Tuesday – The Willowz at Echo