The Muslims, The Carrots, Fantastic Magic @ Casbah 5.12.08

Monday's Anti-Monday League was a fun one this week. It didn't quite sell out, but it was certainly a strong showing for a Monday night. Fantastic Magic opened the night with mixed reviews from the crowd. I like their unconventional music style, but I also heard a couple grumbles from a couple people at the bar that they "try to hard." I disagree, but I still can't place where I'd label theri music. I didn't get any pics of them.

Second up were 50's girl group inspired The Carrots. In town from Austin, the band had layered harmonies. I didn't really understand the quasi-costumes on some of the girls, but they had a good poppy sound. Sadly, the main singer forgot that tights are not pants, so I chose to listen to most of their show from the patio.





The Muslims closed out the night. Their show was being recorded to be released by Art Fag Records and they had a couple technical difficulties but still put on a great show. I mentioned last time that I really like the standing drummer- it really adds a ton of energy to the band's performance. My pics came out awful, but here are a couple anyway, including their setlist.





The Muslims "Call It A Day"


As things wrapped up, I hung on the patio, so here's a sweet little pic of Kristin and Brandon and of Dagart and Emily.


After the show, ther bar stayed open as Mario spun some records and a handful of people danced, but I had to mosey and call it a night. I'm looking forward to that record release for sure. And Dagart, I owe you a drink.

Writer, The Ringers & This Holiday Life, Beauty Bar, 2-16-08

So I had quite the weekend and have over a hundred pictures to sort through from Saturday, as well as my weekly "things to do" listings to get to, but I'm not really in the mood. I just feel like writing about the rest of the weekend...pics will come later, as well as video of Swim Party from last Monday, The Prayers from Thursday and Cory Branan from Friday.

Saturday night was a Beauty Bar night for me. The bands are starting a little bit later these days, so I had some time to hang out, grab a bite nearby, and post up for This Holiday Life. It was my first time seeing them and I really enjoyed them. They fell in the vein of Agualung for me...beautiful soaring vocals and very piano heavy. I realized that I'd left my camera battery at home, so Abraham and I snuck off mid-set to pick it up. I clocked it and my apartment is 3 minutes from the Beauty Bar.

By the time we got back, we heard there was some mix-up and the Ringers went onstage second instead of Writer. Perhaps it was a weird booking to put the two together, but I know there was a little anxiety that The Ringers super high energy show would somehow overshadow Writer's more melodic and quiet set, but I'm happy to say that not only did both bands play well, but the crowd stuck around for both bands and I think appreciated them both.

The Ringers of course were all over the stage and did their LA brand of rock n roll and they do not disappoint. Again, another dude-heavy fanbase, but it was ok, I strapped my camera around my wrist and did my best to take some pics.












After they were done, I met them outside. Joe, the singer, has a sister named Rosie, so he was really nice to me and we kinda talked about the lineup change, and it just seemed like a fluke- nobody to blame but they had to get back to LA.

Back inside, Writer took the stage and sounded great. I kept joking that after The Ringers, they'd have to keep up the momentum with a few leg kicks, but they did what they do and nobody seemed to mind that they were much more mellow. I freaking love them and really can't say enough about how much I love their CD as well as what great people they all are "in real life."






After the show, Abe and I hit the Ken Club for last call, then hung out until 6 am sitting on my kitchen counter just shooting the shit, before I eventually went to sleep.

Grand Ole Party, The Prayers & Fantastic Magic at the Casbah, 2-14-08

Just as soon as I decide I'll wait to post all my pictures until later, Sharon Jones is performing on Letterman, so I'll be up a while... so here I recount my weekend, starting with Thursday.

My problem is that even though I had a few months between my last job and my current position, my Thursday night mentality never ended. My last job we worked longer days M-Th, and Friday was kind of a gimme. We started a half hour later, met in the morning, then everyone would sit around eating bagels or donuts, then perhaps check e-mail, and then it was noon and our day was over. Easy peezy. It worked well because Thursday has long been my favorite night of the week. That said, it went well that there was a great show at the Casbah on Thursday night. Starting off the evening, Andrea met me at work and we indulged with dinner at Ponce's with their awesome margs and hung out for a bit before heading to the Casbah.

The bar was all decked out like a Valentine's prom, with the DJs playing slow jams like "Always and Forever" and a whole collection of Boys II Men. Aww yeah. Fantastic Magic was in the Atari Lounge when we arrived. We kinda bounced around the bar catching up with friends until The Prayers started. The band has had some lineup changes, and have added the Andrews to the band, at least on this night- Andrew Bernhart and Andrew McNally, both of the Swedish Models. I thought their addition to Brandon, Chuck and Joel sounded great and there was a whole little dance party happening throughout their set.

After there were some more slow jams and more Fantastic Magic, and then Grand Ole Party hit the stage. I got in there a little late, so I only got some pics from sidestage, but the band sounded really great. I was especially impressed by John Paul who suddenly unleashed his inner rock star and owned the stage. I kinda wonder what other venues were like on Thursday because it seemed like everyone was at the Casbah.

Tuesday Recap: Castanets, Rafter, Fantastic Magic @ Scolari's

It was a late decision for me to head to Scolari's tonight. I was over TV watching, I was over internet surfing, and with the boost of my neighbor paying me for the cable, I had cash in hand, so I showered and headed to the bar, arriving around 10:30. I was pleased to find out that the first band was still on, despite finding a friend outside who was there hoping for "Fast Tuesday" complaining of the "pseudo luau group" playing inside.

That band was Fantastic Magic and they were just fine by me. I would actually describe what I heard as gypsy-ghoul, with the ghostly vocals and the mandolin rocked like a guitar, and the recorder, African Drum, and an accordian like keyboard? Sorry, I don't know what that instrument was, but I liked it, and it was nice that the old dude at the bar offered me a beer despite his been-drinking-all-day breath. Whatever, I didn't make out with him, I just let him buy me a beer.





It was a little funny for me to be at Scolari's for Fast Tuesday, it's like match the punkboarder with the insults they've hurled my way, but actually there were more people there that I knew than I expected, and if any of them have a problem with me or my blog, it didn't come up on this occasion, so it was a chill vibe.

Rafter played second and it was a little weird for me. I've really only seen Rafter as a 4 to 10 piece band, never as just a two piece. His drummer is also his girlfriend who was the former drummer of Red Pony Clock. Sounds like there was some drama there, but I ain't gonna be the one to write that shit out. Nonetheless, Rafter has cleaned up his look, gotten some more fashionable look, and has no problem making out with his girlfriend immediately after the set was done.





Emily (formerly of Rafter, and currently of Bunky) was there and when I mentioned that Rafter didn't play my favorite song ("Fuck You The Sky"), she sang it to me, so I have to say at that point it was a good night.

But then the Castanets came on and it suddenly became a great night. The Castanets should tour with Two Gallants except maybe they sound too similar, only if Cat Stevens was the singer of Two Gallants.






I mentioned in a past blog that they had their gear stolen this summer, and Ray mentioned it again tonight but they sounded great despite the lack of gear or borrowed gear or whatever they had. Ray mentioned that he's been holed up in a hotel room in Overton, Nevada working on new material and how hard it was to transition from not talking to anyone to suddenly seeing so many familiar faces and trying to converse with anyone, let alone 5 or 20 people.

At the end of the set, they recorded and looped their thanks to the crowd, and Rafter and Emily jumped in adding to the loop before it was eventually filtered out by the Fast Tuesday DJs that segued nicely.



Doesn't Emily look pretty?

Anyway, after the bands finished, we closed our night out at the Pink Elephant who, when last call came, played the whole Pink Elephant Parade sequence from Dumbo and made it not feel like a Tuesday night. I could've gone for hours in that place. Nonetheless, it was time to call it a night and now I'm back on job watch 2007 because I clearly cannot be on this vacation forever. I've decided to start making "to do" lists, something I haven't done in years, just to make myself get up at a normal hour on a daily basis. Gotta get back into real life though this has been thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing. As much as I love doing this blog, it just ain't payin' the bills, ya know? Craig's List, Monster, CalJobs, MegaJobs, et al, here I come. With a vengeance.