This Weekend in L.A.
Buzz on
4
[Today’s birthdays: Robert Pollard, Johnny Marr, Larry Mullen, and Vanilla Ice… Can someone say “supergroup” …?]
Tonight / HALLOWEEN: Too many Halloween parties to choose from… here are a few – After the sad cancellation of Little Radio’s Creepshow, The Henry Clay People [pictured] moved on to another show tonight at the British pub the Cat and Fiddle with the Tall Hands. … Roky Erickson and The Black Angels top off the LA Record presented show the El Rey. … The Secret Machines and the Entrance Band are at Spaceland. … The Juan MacLean joins the jagged, ominious tones of Darker My Love at the Natural History Museum. … Asobi Seksu are at the Echo. … The Damned are at the Hollywood House of Blues. … and Rise Against are joined by dark pop punk (yes, somewhat of a contradiction) of Alkaline Trio at the Palladium.
Saturday: The Parson Red Heads top a strong bill at Spaceland including The Sweet Hurt, The Spires, and Willoughby. … Fresh off Against Me!‘s tour, frontman Tom Gabel starts yet another one promoting his solo album “Heart Burns” tonight at the Knitting Factory, with the help of Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) and Tim Barry (Avail). … She & Him and Lavender Diamond are at the Wiltern. … D.C. rockers Shudder to Think and Jubilee at the El Rey. … Yelle and Passion Pit are the the Henry Fonda. … Rise Against do another night at the Palladium. … And local power-poppers The 88 headline the Troubadour.
Sunday: Although this is perhaps one of the toughest show nights of the year (the Sunday of Halloween weekend), there are still plenty of options – Whispertown 2000 celebrates the release of their new record at the Echo (it’s an early show – 6pm). … Charlie Wadhams kicks off his residency at Tangier. … Rise Against at the Palladium, again. … And Ray Lamontagne is at the Wiltern.
Photo by L.A. Underground
thanks, kevin! also — velvet underground (by grand elegance) and joy division (by repeater) cover sets at club rx at que sera in long beach on sat…
Nice choices Mr. Bronson. Shall we take my Maserati out for a spin and do donuts in the Home Depot parking lot?
Don’t forget Crystal Stilts @ Part Time Punks/The Echo!
Thursday’s The Secret Machine show at the Key Club was heavy, much heavier with Phil Karnats on guitar (I do miss Ben Curtis). They gave out 3-D glasses so the audience could trip on their lighting and stage rig. I give them high marks as they carry-on in noisier territory.
Halloween Friday was a bit of a disappointment. I went to check out Darker My Love as they were billed on the Indie 103.1 gig at the Natural History Museum. To everyone’s surprise, they performed Nirvana songs instead of their own music. However, you got to give these guys credit for dressing up as hamburgers, hot dogs and condiments. The weird part was some random guy who happened to show up looking like the spitting image of Kurt Cobain; the band called him on stage where he moaned and mumbled through most of DML’s set. It was definitely his night.
Finally, Shudder To Think completely floored me with their earnest energy and execution from their formidable catalog (alliterations not intended). Former Gosling guitarist, Mark Watrous helped them flesh out their sound. The only one missing from their Pony Express Record line-up was original bassist, Stuart Hill.