Monday, April 23, 2007

Weekend Recap (Bad Case of the Mondays)

I'm sorry I've not posted today just got a bad case of the Mondays and Jack In The Box is no longer my friend, I guess. The weekend was great so I'll recap the highlights and save you the novel.

1. Friday Night- I missed the Corvinas but did see the Widows and The Last of The Bad Men. Jake was on sound and the crowd was solid. Good, fast punk to get people moving and drinking. One chick was trying to start a pit but was eventually tossed out. No guy was gonna jump in with her and knock her out, so I don't know why she thought she was such a badass.

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The Widows

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The Last of the BadMen

After the show, some people came over and we drank beers till 4:30 or so while everyone made fun of my music selection. We settled on Ganggreen, but that was only after they made fun of my other music. Such is life.

2. Saturday morning: Me and my pretend boyfriend met for Ponce's to absorb the alcohol from the night before and then headed to the House of Blues for The Bloody Hollies playing at 94/9's Big Day Out. Apparently I missed the blogger introduction but no big deal, I had fun listening to the Hollies because it was the first time I've ever seen them and been able to actually hear them. Garrett, Pyles and Owen were all there and it was cool to see so many people out that early in the day. I can't believe I didn't enter the raffle for 3 day Coachella passes. Stupid. Anyway, it was a good time until pretend boyfriend was cut off at the bar (I know how to pick em) so I ditched him and headed up to the Adams Ave Roots fest.

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3. I rode my bike down Adams, locked it up, and ran into Adam Gimbel, Trishia, and 3 year old Emma, who promptly grabbed my hand and escorted me around the fair. We made our way to the park stage for Los Fabulocos from LA, a chicano group much like Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, playing tejano/tex mex/banda and the like. Emma and I danced. We also got our groove on to the next band, The Fishtank Ensemble. They had such an interesting sound, sometimes playing famous symphonies, sometimes original compositions, and my favorite of their stuff, the Eastern European gypsy music all with a heavy gypsy/flamenco vibe. I mean, the singer played a saw. Does it get more unique than that? They also had stand up bass, violin, accordion, a shamisen (a 3 stringed instrument from northern Japan plucked with what looks like a paint spackle), and guitar. After their set in the park, they joined Gregory Paige and Erika Davies, and Los Californios for a song swap.

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Gregory & Erika


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I left the street fair by 4:30, with the intent of getting ready for the free 94/9 show with ¡Society! and Silversun Pickups @ 4th and B, but I was so tired. My short nap turned into 2 hours, and I psyched myself out of going. Then Andrea text messaged me that I still had time, ¡Society! were still playing and there wasn't an insane line like I expected, so I sucked it up and headed downtown.

4. I got there before Silversun Pickups even started and had no problem breezing my way up to the front railing. I had been told that the band isn't big on pictures, and maybe that's why for most of their set, they were only lit from the rear stage lighting and very infrequently did the front stage lights even come on. Lame, but whatever...They played a great set, this was the perfect sized venue for them. HoB sidestage is too small, Belly Up is too small, 4th and B was just right.


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After the set, Garrett and Owen gave away 3 more 3 day Coachella passes with camping passes, and I think 2 3 day Coachella passes with VIP writstbands and hotel. My name was still not in that box, dammit! Anyway, it was a really cool event...the whole day out was successful and had it not been on a weekend with so many other things going on, I probably would've gone up to the Belly Up, too. Garrett hooked me up with the setlist but as I'm sick and lazy, you'll have to wait for all of that.

After the show I decided that I needed a night of pajamas and HBO on demand, so I stayed in.

5. That didn't stop me from sleeping in and only waking when my mom called to tell me she was on her way to take me to the Earth Day Earth Fair.

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We met up with my sister, my brother in law, and our friend Nickie and hung out between the World Beat Center and the Centro Cultural de la Raza, where there was an LA band called
Mili Mili World Music playing predominantly Brazilian music in a trailer doubling as a stage. They were fun and lots of people were dancing, lots of families were chillin on blankets, and lots of herb was being smoked all around. The announcers had to keep reminding people that it was a family event, so there should be no smoking, cigarettes or otherwise, in the area.

After the band, we went to eat but the vendors at Earth Day SUCK. Local festivals should have local vendors, not those same damn corporate vendors that do the Del Mar Fair and shit to serve you $7 plates of Chinese food you could get at a 99 cent Chinese spot. Disappointed with our choices, we called it a day and decided to eat at El Zarape then roll to the Roots Fest again. By the time we arrived back at Roots, the day was winding down, the last bands were finishing up, and the vendors were about to break down, so we did a quick walk through all the vendors and the day was done.

After all of that, I met Sandra and some friends at the Tower for Miggs' b-day, but he'd already left. Big P tried to call Josh Mosh and Derek to come meet me there, but only got voice mails, I suppose.

Anyway, it was a good weekend but today I just didn't feel right. I have issues with insomnia, and sometimes when I do sleep, my dreams are as real as having actually lived them, so I can be more tired after waking than I was before falling asleep and it's really exhausting. I will get it together on Tuesday and post more pics from the weekend, a youtube video of the Fishtank Ensemble, and the set lists from the Bloody Hollies and Silversun Pickups. Till then, I'm gonna go crawl under a rock and hide for the night, if that's ok to do every once in a while.

Good job to anyone involved in planning any of the weekend events... 94/9's event was rad, Roots Fest was impressive, and Earth Day, aside from those whack food vendors, was a good time.

2 comments:

Natalie said...

I also have sleep problems, so I sympathize. In addition to the vivid dream thing you mentioned, I also have the tendency to wake up about every two hours. It sucks.

At least I have an amazing ability to survive on naps. Although they usually turn into two-hour affairs when they're supposed to be 15 minutes. Oh well. Such is life.

adamg said...

You & Emma dancin':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpZFhJ_wNUY