Starting with Friday, I skipped Meg & Dia at M-Theory and also decided that it was not in the cards for me to drive to PB for the opening of Fresh. Instead, Troy and Andrea came over and we pre-drank and then headed to the Beauty Bar for The Rinse and The Vacation, arriving late and completely missing the first band. The Vacation was really good though, and especially photogenic. The singer was all over the stage and fits in well with bands like The Colour. I don't think this is a band I would listen to at home or while I'm working, but the Sunset Strip vibe translates well onstage.
After the band finished, we booked it out of BB and headed back to Kensington. Andrea called it a night but Troy and I proceeded to the Ken Club to catch A Scribe Amidst the Lions. We missed them, apparently, and instead saw this band, The Here, but opted for just the cocktail side of the bar instead.
Come Saturday, I was feeling pretty crappy and considered just being a shut in all day, considered selling my ticket to Razorlight but somehow mustered the energy to head out. I am so glad I did. The opener was a band called Mohair and they were really good, really energetic, and really, really cool guys, taking the time to sign posters, cd’s, and take numerous pictures with anyone who asked, despite half the guys having a bad stomach flu. I talked with Alex, the keyboardist for a little while, who explained how this organ amplifier works.
Their set was great and inspired me to buy a CD. I recorded a song, which the band assured me would be ok to upload on YouTube and that their label would actually appreciate it, so here’s the title track from their album, “Small Talk”.
I was really impressed with the speed that the stage was converted for Razorlight because there was a ton of equipment filling up the whole corner of the bar. When the setlists were laid down, I was happy to see “In The Morning” listed as the first song because I knew I wouldn’t last up front for long with the sold out crowd and everyone with a camera vying for a good vantage point…so here are some pics and their performance of “In The Morning”. I wasn’t familiar with Razorlight but for a few songs, but I know they’re huge in England and I didn't wanna miss the opportunity to see them in a small venue. I’m a huge Neil Finn fan and while the music is more rock, the vocals have a Neil Finn quality. I bumped into Porter and we ended up hanging out for most of the show and going to the Ken Club when the show ended by 12.
Sunday was kinda wasted for me, too. I got up, grabbed lunch, and headed to the Starlight Bowl for the Staring At the Sun show, but after circling the parking a few times, seeing that the box office was charging $10 (not a "suggested donation" as far as I could tell), and realizing that it was probably 80+ degrees and I would end up roasting in my jeans, I headed home. That ended up being the theme of my Sunday as I skipped Robert Randolph and really wanted to see Orion Frequency’s final show at Chasers but once again got sucked into “The Winner” followed by the repeat of Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Sorry I missed the finale, guys. The weather, the time change, the heavy boozing…it all lead to me opting for a quiet Sunday at home.
3 comments:
Yeah, you and everybody else skipped out on the Starlight Bowl. It was so empty, I felt bad for the bands. They claim to be doing something every weekend, so I hope it picks up, because it has a lot of potential.
As far as admission goes, you had to go to the Box Office and get stamped. Tickets (which I had) meant nothing, and the "suggested donation" was pushed pretty hard, You probably could have gotten in for nothing, but they'd do their best to make you feel like crap about it. I'm not a big fan of guilt-based pricing schedules.
-Roger
It's cool rosey - we had fun. Kind of wierd being done with that project now. We'll see what kind of new music brian and I can come up with - we've got big plans for doing something a totally different sound.
The band that played after us - "the all time highs" were great. They reminded me of the bronx and they were on their way to SXSW to play five shows this week. super cool guys and cool old school straight up rock n' roll sound.
It was too bad that there weren't more people there to watch them... most of our friends took off after we played due to it being a sunday night and all.
I'm sure I'll see you soon, though because of finals i'm probably not going to get to go out until next week.
-Ryan
We watched the Starlight Bowl for awhile from up top for free. It's cool that they're giving it a shot but the cost for doing anything in a place that big must be big. Hey, let's do some free shows at the Murph! Cool idea but.... Even when we played Earth Day with thousands of people walking around looking for music to watch, it looked kinda empty even with a few hundred people watching. Fine by us but I doubt it'll be successful enough to continue for long. Cheers to Chris for trying anyways!
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